


Fire Forest

by owl127



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Abby being Abby, Alpha!Clarke, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/F, Omega!Lexa, Pups, Werewolves, bear with me guys, belly rubs please, but also some drama, clexa endgame but at what cost, lots of fluff cuteness and fluffy furs, werewolves clans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:22:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27427876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owl127/pseuds/owl127
Summary: Beyond the tree line, an aging clan’s old beliefs that clashed with its surging new leadership.On the other side, a modern clan with its own rooted rebels.Between them, fire.--Omegaverse Clexa werewolf!AU because why not?
Relationships: Anya/Raven Reyes, Clarke Griffin/Lexa
Comments: 85
Kudos: 253





	1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

This is a tale of a world that lingered to its core of wilderness.

Werewolves and humans coexisted, however, any interaction was done in a cautious fashion. Feeling the threat humans became to the earth, werewolf clans kept their appearance in human societies to a minimum. The traditional clans still opposed it altogether, while new, progressive clans understood the value humans can bring to the old ways. All clans, though, kept a safe distance to protect their people, their pups and their history.

What the clans did not know was that, sometimes, the greatest threats come from within.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Metal doors vibrated with the deep thud of drums and the high pitch of inebriate laughter. Muted sounds from the festivities were a vivid background compared to the meeting’s pleasantries and small talk. The biannual meetings of clan leaders never led to anything concrete. It was more for show than anything else, ending in whispers and ideas to be discussed in a faraway future. Preferably, a future that didn’t involve the temptation of alcohol and dance so close.

Clarke sat uneasily on the leather chair, fingers drumming on her pants. Her mother, Chancellor of the Ark Clan, spoke of their urgent need for territory due to their accented growth in the last decade. Kane and Pike showed their support, and Clarke, as elected heir to the next available council seat, had to at least make an appearance at such events.

She found Anya’s eyes on the other side of the long, mahogany table, light amber trying her best to stay focused until she saw Clarke. Anya squinted and bared her teeth in slight annoyance, earning a grin from Clarke. If even Anya was bored, this must be the worst meeting of all. 

But someone had to accompany Trikru’s chief tonight, and the responsibility fell on unlucky Anya. 

_“You’re missing the party!”_ Came Raven’s text only to torture Clarke, agitating her alpha nature as she glanced at her phone. Her button up and pantsuit smothered her, sweat clinging to her temples. She felt a burning need to run from the brightly lit room to the coziness of a fire, the serenity of the stars and the warmth of homemade alcohol.

She looked up from her phone to find stony dark eyes focused on her. Under the stare, Clarke gulped. A millennia-old clan like Trikru would have a scary leader like Indra, who didn’t approve Clarke and other heirs being in meetings like this, thus the Trikru small party of two. Yet, Clarke had been to council meetings since after puberty, when the alpha had presented her first traces of leadership. She did not know much of other clans, but exposing future leadership to the reality of their roles was an important part of her own clan’s decisions. The Ark Clan was no modern tribe to break traditions, but they were adamant to their own view of the world—even if it brought a few sparks with older clans.

Clarke sighed and fought the urge to pull her phone from her pocket when another clan leader stood up to speak. The bass from drums outside prickled Clarke’s skin, and her wolf begged her to leave, to be free and enjoy the rare company of many different wolves from all corners of their lands. 

It felt like forever, but the meeting came to an end, freeing leaders to enjoy the peace celebrations which were the fruit of their own hard work. Clarke waved to her mother and soon found herself in the middle of her pack, Bellamy teasing her fancy pants and Octavia undoing two of her buttons.

“We thought we had lost you forever,” Raven joked, offering her a mug of sweet ale from a northern clan. It would warm her up against the night wind. 

“Don’t get me started on useless meetings like that. Is there any food left?” Clarke accepted the ale and downed it fast, much to Bellamy’s surprise, who offered his own mug after.

“There’s some great spicy fish sticks from the Boat Clan.” Octavia pointed to some barracks by the far side of the fire.

Clarke made her way to the food barracks, waving through the multitude of scents. Furry heads sneaked around her legs, and she smiled at the eager children. Pups, most in their wolf form, fought against sleep while dancing and running around the fire. Worried parents took a night off as they were among friends, enjoying the bittersweet combination of fresh juice and strong liquor. It was an early autumn night, and the cold clashed with the warmth spreading from the bonfire, attracting the kids. Clarke felt proud when a trio of Ark pups ran past her in a tag game.

She got the famous fish sticks and realized too late that they were not kidding about the _spicy_ part of the little fish cubs. She teared up and spat out the first bite in a series of coughs, hoping no one saw her pathetic choking—especially the pups.

A chorus of giggles from her left told her she had no such luck, and she turned, wet-eyed and burning cheeks, to see a gathering of children laughing at her.

Her dignity at stake, she opened her mouth to remind the kids about respecting elders when someone interrupted to save what was left of her pride.

“And that’s why we’re not eating the spicy sticks. Who wants some corn dog instead?” The pups forgot about the blushing alpha and ran away with cheers, much to Clarke’s relief.

“Here.” Her savior handed her a jug of water that Clarke downed ungracefully. When her cleared eyes could focus after the hot tears, Clarke choked at the dark green staring back.

“You okay?” the omega, clearly an omega from the scent that invaded Clarke’s now cleared nostrils, asked in a worried pout and the slightest of smirks.

“Yeah. Yeah, sure. Fine. Perfect.” Clarke handed back the water and almost let it fall, earning a mental facepalm. “I did it for the kids, you know. For the fun.”

“Yeah. Right.” The omega’s smirk blossomed under the fire’s dancing light. “You should try the corn dog too, by the way. It’s not spicy.”

“No, it’s... it’s okay.” Clarke laughed to herself, biting her lips. Manners came back to her at once and she extended her hand. “I’m Clarke.”

The omega looked her up and down, not an ounce of shame. She studied Clarke, carefully so, in a way that was usually reserved for the second part of the celebration, when the kids were gone and the fire was dying into the night.

Clarke gulped and regretted not opening a third button.

“ _Aunty Lexa!_ ” a tiny voice called from Clarke’s knee through the bond wolves share when in their wolf form. They looked down to see an auburn pup pawing at the omega’s knee.

Lexa—Aunty Lexa—scooped the pup up and kissed her snout when the small thing yawned. “It’s all right, baby. It’s bedtime after the corn dog for all of you.”

Clarke missed the moment they were surrounded by pups but felt the soft touch of fur and small fingers around her legs. She shook her head from high cheekbones and green eyes to watch the sea of tiny heads and pointed ears. They all looked up curious while holding corn dogs in various stages of being devoured. 

“Are you staying after they are put to bed?” She couldn't suppress the question because the omega was going to leave, and Clarke needed more of that scent embedded in intricate braids and bronze skin. Forget the food, the ale, the liquor and the dance; Clarke would die happy tonight with only that scent.

“Yes, we’re going down to the beach later.”

Clarke ignored the plural pronoun, a probable hint of her pack, and smiled, confident and blind to anything else.

“I’ll look for you.”

Clarke lived for the shy smile and blush she earned under the warm light of the fire.

* * *

When pups and elders went to sleep, when the main fire coughed its last remains, when the sun still had a few hours before stretching and rising in the sky—that was when the celebrations started. 

Clothes disappeared for the eager wolves, and by the end of the night, most shifters would be in wolf form, running down the woods to reach cool sand. At the beach, a second, brighter fire burned. The trail that started light and steady close to the festivities’ main grounds grew dark and full of secret corners when the trees surrendered space to rocks and sand. A perfect hideaway for young wolves.

Even more perfect for stolen kisses and whispered promises. 

Between the debauchery of mated and the curiosity of unmated wolves, Clarke was a woman on a mission.

She couldn’t find her friends, though they were not a priority, in her weak attempt to follow Bellamy’s scent. She scanned the groups in search of green eyes, long legs and maybe a smile just for her.

“Clarkey!”

Clarke turned in time to feel Raven crash onto her chest, jacket and pants already gone.

“I’m on my way down with Octavia, Bell and Anya. Let’s go!” Raven’s ears were pointed, and she was shedding the last of her clothes to shift.

“I’ll meet you guys there.”

Light brown eyes studied her, a brown perking up. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Clarke crossed her arms, looking around for a familiar figure as wolves searched for their packs and walked further away from the main, dying fire uphill. 

Raven pursed her lips, canines already sharp. “You met someone, didn’t you?”

“I… did not?” Clarke met Raven’s eyes, offering a looped smile and a shrug. 

“Yeah, right. Be safe okay? Anya already helped with their clan pups, and we’re free to go down and enjoy some skinny dipping.” Raven waggled her eyebrows, and Clarke pushed her friend away and mocked a grimace. 

“Please don’t give me any details.”

“Never, you perv.” Sharp canines shone under the full moon, and Raven winked at Clarke. “See you later!”

Clarke’s hands were damp, the music was low, and there was a chilly breeze erupting her skin in goose bumps. Her inner wolf called for freedom, sniffing the air and looking for a scent she hadn’t memorized.

Yet.

It would have been a failed search if the same wind that gave her chills had not given her the mercy of blowing the scent she desperately looked for: unmated, omega and _close._

“You’re not a good hunter, are you?”

Clarke smiled before turning around, finding sparkling green and full lips.

“Wanna join me for a run to test that out?” She took the omega’s hand—long and soft—and twirled her for a brief second, earning a laugh.

“I’m Lexa. Trikru,” Lexa said, and it felt closer to Clarke’s red cheeks.

“Clarke. Ark Clan.” It was almost a whisper, a secret in the open field.

“Well, Clarke from the Ark Clan, would you care to dance?”

There was no force in nature that could stop Clarke from saying yes.

In the quick, then slow, swirls of the dance, they exchanged bits of their life and skin; fingers touched hands, waist and lower backs. Whispers of half-truths were caught in laughing puffs of air that brushed a delicate ear.

Clarke, the doctor.

Lexa, the teacher.

They danced until most wolves were half a mile away from them, and Lexa was the one to pull Clarke closer to the woods and the path that would lead them to the beach. Silent, but with eyes that screamed _everything_ , Lexa gripped the hem of her dress and tossed it to the ground, naked back disappearing between the trees.

Clarke tripped on her pants and probably lost both shoes but followed Lexa into the darkness with a sharp tooth grin.

A curious snout rose in the air, searching for the source of the scent that flooded her nose after the shift. Clarke licked her cold nose and shook her head. Lexa’s scent was close, but she couldn’t pinpoint where she was, all tantalizing smell and unreachable.

_“Not a good hunter indeed.”_ Lexa’s wolf voice vibrated inside Clarke’s head, calm and serious—the extreme opposite of Clarke’s currently emotion spectrum. Clarke turned excitedly to meet one of the most beautiful wolves she had ever seen.

Midnight black fur, perfect sleek gleam without any light spots. It shone like silver under the full moon, but it must be a wooden auburn under the sun. The same green eyes, dark under the full moon, stared back at Clarke with a tinge of awe.

Clarke licked her snout again because Lexa was impressed too. She stepped closer, paws secure when she sniffed Lexa’s neck, and the calmness from before melted into something stronger, hotter. Clarke liked the scent.

_“Your pelt,”_ Lexa said through the wolf bond, tongue petting Clarke’s immaculate fur.

_“It always works with the ladies,”_ Clarke joked, barking and pushing away. She was aware of the effect a rare, white pelt caused.

There were legends behind each color, myths about the roles for each pelt. While white wolves tended to be healers and leaders, black wolves were strong and fearless warriors.

The joke broke Lexa’s trance, and she growled playfully. Before Clarke could react, a dark blur jumped above her, and Lexa was gone.

_“Oh, it’s on!”_

It was not particularly a chase, nor a hunt. It was two wolves, who openly wanted more, running down the hill and stumbling on trees, rocks and dead leaves—most of the stumbling came from Clarke—because they were too busy staring at each other’s fur, tail and eyes.

Clarke’s mouth watered at Lexa’s scent, and Lexa couldn’t hide the peak of her omega pheromones.

It was good to be wanted.

Lexa was the first to hit the beach, paws digging in soft, white grains and fur peaking at the cool sea breeze. She looked back in time to catch Clarke, whose greater weight made them both stumble in a ying-young mess down the sand.

They grunted, Clarke letting out a yip in excitement, prolonging their backflips through more than the necessary momentum. Lexa, slender and taller, pinned Clarke down with both paws on her chest, jaw closing on a playful nip on Clarke’s exposed neck.

_“Got you,”_ the black wolf chanted, howling at the victory.

_“Yeah, you did.”_ There was no defeat in Clarke’s tone, and her bright blue eyes were hooded, darker. Her flapping tail was the only sign betraying her apparent calm. 

Lexa waited, as if expecting Clarke to fight back, to roll them again. Green eyes squinted suspiciously, searching for something in Clarke’s own. Whatever it was, she seemed to find it, lifting her paws from the white pelt and rolling next to Clarke. They stared at the bright sky, the stars shining shyly under the full moon. 

_“Did you want to be a doctor when you were a pup?”_

Clarke filled her lungs with the salty breeze, licking her snout at the exhale. _“My sire’s a doctor. I’ve always admired her. And I also wanted to help people so…”_ She turned, but Lexa’s eyes were still in the sky. The breeze picked up, and Clarke saw the bits of sand falling like snow on the dark fur. _“So yes.”_

Lexa wiggled, her tail lifting more sand in a small puff. Clarke barked low in her throat, and the omega replied, _“My back was itchy. Like you don’t like to do it.”_

_“Every wolf does.”_ Clarke enhanced her response by rolling on the sand too. The soft scratch of the grains on her fluff pelt felt good, relaxing. 

_“Do you think we’re made to do what we do? Like destiny?”_ Mid-roll, Clarke wasn’t expecting the deep question, but she stopped to look at Lexa. The black wolf still stared at the sky but chanced a glance at Clarke.

_“We make our own destiny. Our choices define our path.”_

Lexa seemed satisfied, huffing quietly. She rolled closer to Clarke and laid down next to the white wolf. Clarke used her body as the big spoon, laying around Lexa as much as she could. She rested her chin over the omega’s back, sighing calmly when Lexa snuggled into her.

_“I’ve never felt a scent like yours,”_ Lexa confessed, a whisper into their bond. 

Clarke took a deep breath of dark fur, fresh earth and pure Lexa. It had an edge of salt from the sea, only making it more tantalizing.

_“I want to know you like I’ve never wanted to know anyone before.”_ Clarke let her words sink as her snout drew circles on Lexa’s side. 

The moment lingered, heavy and pregnant with growing feelings. Giving time and space for Lexa to pull away, Clarke lifted her neck to touch her nose, nuzzling the warm breath leaving Lexa’s overreacting lungs.

Clarke’s tongue, warm and secure, licked at the cold snout and dark pelt. Closing her eyes, Lexa exhaled, hot and close.

This connection was new. Clarke had never felt it before.

Wordlessly, Lexa climbed off Clarke, laughing when the white wolf huffed a protest. She trotted in the direction of the sea, with the certainty that Clarke would follow. Black tail disappeared under a wave, and nothing else mattered for Clarke. There was fire and music and friends around them, but blue eyes zeroed in a human head that poked from under the waves, one hand also surging above the water in clear invitation.

Clarke would be ashamed of her eagerness if not for the promise behind long fingers.

She shifted between waves, her skin blossoming in goosebumps under the cold water. The moon and a faraway fire were their light. Salt teased Clarke's tongue when she licked her trembling lips, but it melted in a smile when she finally caught Lexa, hands on firm shoulders.

“Hi,” Clarke said, her legs finding packed sand under their feet. A long, bare leg touched her knee, and Clarke leaned closer.

“Hi,” Lexa murmured, leaning in, arms around Clarke's neck. Their breasts touched, and Clarke bit back a moan at peaked nipples.

Nudity was not uncommon for wolves. Second nature, almost. But this connection, this touch; it felt different, special. 

An adventurous leg sneaked around Clarke's waist, their skin meeting everywhere but the place Clarke wanted the most.

It was fast, it was new, but neither could fight it. Clarke let it consume her. 

Lexa’s nose was cold against Clarke’s, bumping playfully until the alpha stretched her neck to finally capture wet lips.

The kiss was not what Clarke expected. It was slow, heavy and light, salty and sweet, and broken by a wave and a fit of giggles. It was the best paradox she had ever lived.

Lexa, braver, rested her head on Clarke’s shoulder, inhaling the strong scent and closing her eyes to the night of stars. Her hip moved the last bit of space, and Clarke’s hand ran down to hold Lexa’s backside.

“It’s cold,” Clarke said in the first hint of shyness, and Lexa pulled back and saw the flush in Clarke’s cheeks and how the alpha looked between their bodies.

Lexa laughed, but not before kissing the alpha reassuringly. “It’s perfect,” she purred on Clarke’s ears and nipped the soft flesh with a sharp canine.

Without warning, the omega disentangled herself from Clarke’s hold and dived into the water, shallow enough for Clarke to see her start to shift. This time Clarke was close behind, emerging from the sea right after Lexa. Their furs were heavy and wet, a contrast to their heating skin.

A drop fell on Clarke’s eye and the wolf looked up confused, catching the next raindrop on her tongue. When she looked down again, Lexa’s tail was already poking from between the trees, the omega running under the rain.

The run up was clearly a chase. All pretense was gone, the flirting replaced by primal instinct. Clarke caught Lexa’s scent between trees and rain and focused on it like it was a lifeline. Her muscles strained in determination, a need to follow. She caught sights of Lexa; a growl here, a huff there and green, inviting eyes everywhere.

They did not stumble when they hit the resort camp one more time, Clarke following Lexa to the Trikru cabins without protest.

It was not a simple hook-up, Clarke’s wolf argued with herself. It was different, this connection. Clarke didn’t fear anything when she saw Lexa shifting and opening a cabin door. The alpha followed, also turning to her human form, hand itching to touch skin; too much time had passed since she felt it.

Droplets fell from Clarke’s eyelids as she blinked them away. She needed a clear vision of the beautiful omega in front of her as she closed the door and breathed heavily, skin flushed.

“I’ve never done this before,” Lexa whispered when Clarke’s lips met her neck.

Clarke placed an open-mouthed kiss on the base of the tantalizing neck, teeth grazing skin. “Sex?”

“No,” Lexa chuckled, a blush taking over her neck and down her chest, nipples hardening under curious fingers. “I mean, not this fast, not without—”

“Do you want to stop?” There was a fire in Clarke’s eyes, and it begged for Lexa to say no. Clarke didn’t want to stop, she would break if her omega asked that— _her omega_. But just as surely, she would do what Lexa asked. 

Lexa shook her head, response dying at the piercing gaze Clarke fought to keep on the omega’s face. She failed at Lexa’s long breath, exposed breasts heaving.

“It feels right.” They met in another fervent kiss at the omega’s admission. At late twenties and unmated, neither wolf wanted to waste any time.

It was familiar, and it was new. Like missing something never seen.

Clarke hit the bed first, knees giving out and falling on a plush mattress. It smelled like Lexa, the entire room did, and it sent Clarke’s mind reeling. Lexa straddled the alpha, the heat between their bodies increasing. Pale hands held Lexa’s waist, aiming their desperate grinding. 

Clarke wanted to say more, to declare herself, to confess and to feel weak. She couldn’t risk pushing this omega away. She wanted to woo this woman, to prove her worth to—

“Yes,” Clarke breathed as long fingers closed around her, heavy and dripping. She moved her hips with Lexa’s motions, fingers digging on the supple skin on Lexa’s thighs. “I want you.” She found green eyes in the dim-lit room, and black consumed them.

Nodding, Lexa rose up to her knees and aligned Clarke with her own burning need. Arousal trickled on Clarke, and she had to look away to hold back her pleasure. The move exposed her neck, and Lexa growled, possessive, making Clarke twitch.

“Look at me.”

Clarke heard it, but her fogged brain couldn’t process, and it was only when sharp nails found her chin that she met Lexa’s eyes. The green had surrendered to black, lust heavy on her scent and something else Clarke had never felt before. She loved it, whatever it was.

Lexa repeated the command, fierce and authoritative. A shiver went down Clarke’s spine. 

She nodded and opened her mouth, but nothing but a breathy whine came out. She was lost in the intense black stare, the agape mouth, the moan. Lexa sank down on her, slow enough for the alpha to moan but too fast for Clarke’s control to slip.

Lexa’s head dropped back in a long, whispered howl when their hips met. For a moment, it was quiet, heavy breathing and drying sweat filling the room along with the soft padding of the rain.

“You’re magnificent,” Clarke whispered and moved her hips upwards, establishing a pace that Lexa greedily accepted. 

There was the mysterious scent and the look in Lexa’s eyes again. She swallowed, ducking her head in a smile that morphed into a moan, hands spread on Clarke’s chest and abdomen.

Clarke hadn’t even come, and it was the best sex of her life. Her wolf growled, demanding control but she could manage the beast while Lexa adjusted to her. The bed creaked as Lexa picked up speed, and Clarke focused on the bouncing breasts in front of her. Her teeth found a nipple, and Lexa faltered, hands moving to Clarke’s messy hair, threading between blonde tresses.

Strong hands ran up Lexa’s back, pushing her down by the shoulders to meet the alpha’s thrusts and mouth. Lexa muffled her moans on Clarke’s neck, their bodies seamless together.

“I’m close,” Lexa grunted at a hard thrust, and her thighs locked over Clarke’s waist. The alpha didn’t stop her assault on sensitive breasts, and Lexa’s raspy voice brought her closer.

“Me too,” Clarke breathed on Lexa’s chest, her mouth latching on an exposed neck to leave a nasty bruise. Her wolf howled, but she wouldn’t break skin.

Lexa’s breathing hitched, high and pleading, and Clarke gasped desperately as her hips bucked, losing their rhythm.

It was Lexa’s breathless, satisfied wail and fluttering that pushed Clarke over the edge.

The scorching heat at the base of her stomach exploded, her abs tightening, and finally, heavy and thick, she came inside her omega.

Clarke laid back, bonelessly, and Lexa followed the movement, her head snuggled under the alpha’s chin.

Quiet reigned once more. The rain was stronger against the window, fat and large drops clouding the pale moonlight. Desperate breathing slowed to languid sighs while hands lazily explored what they raged moments ago.

“Hi,” Clarke mumbled against the hickey she left on sensitive skin, smiling when Lexa vibrated with a silent laugh.

“Hi yourself.” Lexa pulled back to kiss Clarke’s swollen lips. If it was supposed to be a peck, Clarke ignored it and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss, tongues meeting, pushing and basking in exquisite delight.

It escalated, and with a soft groan, Clarke turned them so she was finally on top. Her wolf salivated.

“You’re hard again.” Lexa’s eyes widened at the admission, her walls tightening on Clarke.

The alpha preened, smirking as she lounged down for more kisses. “It’s all you.”

Honestly, it was the first time Clarke got hard again without pulling out. But Lexa didn’t need to know that was not a common feature; maybe she would want to do it again if she thought it was Clarke’s modus operandi. Clarke couldn’t fathom a future where Lexa wouldn’t want this again, not while nestled between the omega’s legs, involved in her scent. Even without marking the omega, Clarke felt the pull towards Lexa, an undeniable need.

A teasing bite to Clarke’s ear brought her back to the present, and she growled playfully, hips picking up the pace.

Clarke was lost in the body underneath her, Lexa’s legs widening their stance so Clarke could cover more of her skin. The pheromones in the room burst with renewed arousal, Lexa’s teeth finding Clarke’s neck, nipping at a pulsing spot.

“Lexa, Lex…” Clarke moaned, a familiar burning in her crotch. For the first time in her life, she welcomed the stretching sting of her knot forming.

“Clarke?” Lexa huffed, hands clutching Clarke’s butt, question laced with a soft apprehension that made Clarke falter. Lexa could feel her too. 

“Yeah,” Clarke answered the unworded question, her hips giving a small jump forward on pure reflex. She felt Lexa tense under her, a hiss escaping, but the hands on Clarke’s backside stayed put. “We need to stop or I’ll knot.” Every word hurt, an inhuman effort for Clarke’s wolf to blurt them out as she breathed the confession.

Rain crashed louder against the glass, painting long shadows on the wall. 

“No.” The word warmed Clarke’s cheek and brought her back to the moment. “I want this,” confessed Lexa. 

Clarke should stop. She should at least consider things from a different angle besides between an omega’s legs, but her wolf was already taking control. She nodded and closed her mouth over plump lips, biting hard.

Lexa moaned, biting the underside of Clarke’s chin.

The pace accelerated and slowed before climbing to never stop. Lexa lifted her hips to accommodate the engorged member, welcoming Clarke with a stuttered whimper. Clarke entered in a mantra in search of white-hot pleasure, Lexa’s name falling from her lips again and again, and again. She felt tight walls clamping around her, over her; _everywhere_ was Lexa. Her knot was inside an omega, and Clarke couldn’t breathe.

Lexa’s orgasm was silent, a locked scream tearing her throat as tears roamed free from tightly closed eyes. Clarke ducked her head in the warm spot on Lexa’s neck, biting the pillow as she jerked her hips once, twice, and finally released. She trembled from toe—digging into the mattress for leverage—to hairline—sweated and slick with the result of her labor.

Clarke didn’t know if she blacked out or not, but when she opened her eyes, they were joined, warm and secure. She wanted to howl, to tell the world she would one day mark this omega, but contented herself with a snuggled kiss on Lexa’s cheek.

“I’ve never knotted before,” Clarke confessed into chestnut hair.

“Me neither,” came the reply from a sore throat. Clarke kissed the tears away, soothing her omega.

A heavy silence followed, punctuated by the rain dancing on the porch outside.

“I’m going to be a future member of the Ark Clan council. My sire serves as a chancellor.” Clarke needed to lay everything out in the open.

“I know.” Lexa nuzzled the unmarked neck, whining softly.

“I don’t regret this.” Clarke moaned back, meeting tongue in another deep kiss. “I’m sorry, I—”

“Don’t be. We did this together, Clarke.”

“I didn’t mean to drag you into a political game.”

Lexa laughed at that, but it died in a moan and her walls fluttered around Clarke once more. They got lost in each other’s bodies, giving and taking until Clarke came with a grunt and Lexa moaned to the ceiling.

When their breathing evened out, Lexa pushed on the mattress enough to meet blue eyes.

“Some people are born for leadership, Clarke. It requires sacrifices.”

Clarke didn’t understand why Lexa was saying that. Was she okay with maybe joining a different pack, or even clan? She knew Raven was a promised mate for Anya from Trikru. And Anya was a valuable member of Trikru, a member of the leading pack. Maybe Trikru were different than what she always thought, a new progressive generation, more than what Ark Clan expected from them.

“You’re not a sacrifice to me.”

Lexa beamed, her wolf finally purring. “You don’t really know me.”

Clarke nipped under her chin. “But I want to.”

They fall into another kiss, and after a last grinding search for pleasure, they drifted off together at the sound of soft rain on the rooftop.

* * *

Stretching, Clarke nuzzled her snout into warm skin. She shifted during the night, a common habit for satisfied alphas, but Lexa was stark naked against the white wolf.

“Morning.” Voice heavy from sleep, Lexa’s body exhaled satisfaction. Clarke laid on her back, both legs spread out, and snuggled closer to Lexa's warmth, wrangling her way between the crumpled sheets. Her legs pushed the sheets away in a reflex when Lexa scratched the secret spot between her ears.

A loud knock on the door interrupted their cozy bubble. Clarke whined, the sound developing into a growl when Lexa stood up and left her alone between the pillows.

“Who’s there?” The sleep from Lexa’s voice was gone, replaced by a softness masked with strength. Clarke’s ears perked up, but she didn’t move from the soft blankets.

Lexa opened the door slowly and spoke too low for Clarke to comprehend in her sleepy state. She was almost falling back asleep when something heavy and stinking of alpha jumped on her, heaving the air from her lungs, and shoved her body to the ground. Lexa screamed something, but Clarke was too focused on not letting sharp teeth close around her throat.

A mottled wolf—black and dark golden—growled above Clarke, paws buried on her neck and belly, demanding submission. Amber eyes narrowed in a powerful show of aggression stared down at her. The scent was vaguely familiar, but all Clarke understood was the primal need to fight.

She turned to free herself under the weight of the wolf, attacking the soft underside with a strong bite. She missed, but it was close enough for the wolf to jump back.

“Stop!” Lexa, still in human form, tried to jump on the attacking wolf and ended up knocking over a chair and desk. Lexa hissed at the hard thrust, and the sight of Lexa hurting moved Clarke to jump between them, teeth closed on a paw. She tasted blood.

“Anya! Clarke!”

“Clarke!” A new voice broke Clarke’s feral mind state, and she faltered, releasing the paw between her teeth.

Lexa stood up from the floor, pulling the dark wolf by the scruff with both hands. “Anya!”

It all happened too fast, and Clarke fell back on her haunches. Raven, startled at the door, and Lexa, wincing, pulling the other wolf until it finally calmed down. It broke free from Lexa’s hold and shifted right in front of Clarke.

Clarke widened blue eyes at Anya.

“What the fuck, Griffin!” Anya snarled, pointing a bleeding finger at Clarke. “You knotted!”

Realization hit and before Clarke could whine her protest. Lexa, stark naked, stepped between the alphas.

“It doesn’t concern you, Anya!”

“The fuck it doesn’t!” And here they changed to the Trikru language, and Clarke was lost.

“Dude.” Raven tiptoed around a broken chair to find Clarke, who watched Lexa and Anya arguing back and forth. “Did you two really…” She whistled a two-note tune, eyes scanning the room.

Clarke couldn’t help it, she beamed at the notion that she spent the night with Lexa.

“And she sleeps like a savage, her legs open wide so everyone can see her junk!” Anya switched back to English at her final argument, storming out of the room, pants in her hands. 

Raven was torn between following her girlfriend or staying with her friend. “You really do, you should cover it with your tail or something,” she said, lowering to meet Clarke’s eyes. “Will you be okay?” She glanced at Clarke’s paw, a bruise from Anya’s teeth forming under her fur.

_“Yeah, I’m fine,”_ Clarke sent to Raven.

“She’s an alpha, and Lexa’s her pack. No hard feelings, ok?”

Clarke growled but understood. Raven left the couple behind, closing the door to curious eyes that had heard the scuffle from outside.

It hurt, but Clarke shifted, grimacing at the shallow cut on her forearm.

“You okay?” She approached Lexa, who was quiet and watched Anya leave with a light trembling to her legs.

“Yes, it’s just… I’m sorry.” She sat back on the bed, and Clarke followed.

“I didn’t mean to be a problem for your pack,” Clarke said and sat next to Lexa.

Green eyes met blue, a sad smile touching Lexa’s lip. “You’re not. Anya worries too much.”

“I can talk to her. She’s usually at our home because of Raven.”

“Don’t worry, this is a family discussion.”

“I won’t tell my pack right now, if you want.”

Raven already knew, but Clarke had a feeling that the longer she could wait to tell her mother about knotting a Trikru omega, the better.

Lexa rested her head on Clarke’s shoulder, allowing the alpha to hold her. They sighed at the contact. “I still don’t regret last night.” The smile tugging Lexa’s lip was timid, but real.

“Me neither.”

Clarke kissed Lexa’s forehead, intertwining their fingers. “Do you want to have dinner next week?”

Lexa kissed blushing cheeks. “Sounds lovely.”

* * *

Between Ark and Trikru clans, the Fire Forest reigned in its setting tones of red and amber as autumn took place, the season that named the extensive terrain. The calmness of the trees ended up being the favorite place for the couple to meet, sharing hunts and encounters that even though lacked the intensity of their first one, still were laced with caring. 

Being with Lexa was fun, light, but with a deep meaning from their first night that was part of each interaction.

Certain days, between Clarke’s shifts at the Ark Hospital and Lexa’s own busy life, they would travel the miles that separated the isolated wolf territories from the human towns. Both wolves liked the little adventure. Clarke discovered Lexa’s passion for strawberry danish and other baked goodies in one such trip away from the clans, and the Portuguese bakery downtown gained a new favorite customer. 

Lexa took Clarke to a restaurant near the Fire Forest, a family-owned Trikru diner that served Trikru and Ark alike. That night, Clarke had the most delicious rabbit stew she had ever eaten. Fresh, from a well-done hunt, perfect for wolves. 

They shifted, leaving the restaurant, stopping to safely keep their clothes in the forest. It was a common habit to leave a safe bundle of clothes near a secluded place such as where they could either change back or retrieve the garments in the future. Under the trees, Clarke took a deep breath of Lexa’s scent and smiled, warm inside. She smelled earth drenched with early rain and the raw scent of new flowers.

They found a clearing as the sun set, igniting the forest in colors like fire before the soothing moon swallowed them all in darkness. Lexa laid her head on pure white fur, Clarke’s warmth seeping through her fur and skin. 

_“Clarke?”_

_“Hm?”_ Eyes closed, stomach full and nose covered in omega, Clarke was as happy as she knew happiness could be like. 

_“Tell me about your family,”_ Lexa sent through the wolf bond, snuggling closer to the alpha.

Blue eyes open, Clarke watched the last of sunlight filter through the trees. 

_“I’m part of the leading pack of the Ark Clan. We have three packs in the council, but my mother serves as leader.”_

_“Chancellor, right? It’s what you call it?”_

_“Yes.”_

The silence was comfortable between them. Clarke grunted and stretched, though Lexa remained on top of her.

_“I’m from a litter of one,”_ Lexa said in between a yawn. _“No siblings. But I have two cousins in my pack. You know Anya.”_

_“You mean Anya, the wolf who jumped on me at the biannual meeting?”_

_“I meant Anya, one of your close friend’s girlfriend.”_

Clarke grunted but knew Lexa had a point. 

_“My pack is mostly childhood friends. Raven is part of my pack.”_

Lexa licked the back of her ear, and Clarke relaxed at the soothing motion.

_“I know Raven.”_ Lexa kept licking, stroking the sweet spot between Clarke’s ears. Clarke responded with a low purring. _“She’s very dear to Anya.”_

_“Raven and I got very close after the fire.”_

There was no need for Clarke to elaborate. Almost fifteen years ago, a raging fire consumed the forest that lived under its own name for a night. No one knew how it started, and casualties on both clans left bitterness on all sides, and a silent war for territory had been dragging between the clans. 

Lexa laid her head on white fur again, paws closer to Clarke’s body. Clarke tensed under the hug.

_“Raven lost her parents at the fire. I…”_ Warmth blossomed on Clarke’s neck as Lexa caressed the fur there. _“My dad and brother were also killed. I guess that bonded most of my pack, honestly. We all had loved ones we lost that night.”_

Bellamy and Octavia lost their sire and an older brother. Raven, both her parents. 

The lost pups bonded over pain.

Images of blond hair, amber eyes and a deep grey fur were what Clarke had left of JJ. He would be a better leader, she liked to think. Kind and brave, just like their dad. 

Too brave, maybe. 

_“I’m sorry.”_ Lexa snuggled into the alpha’s neck, the scent of sadness faint but real. 

_“It’s alright. My pack is stronger now.”_

_“I’m sure it is.”_

_“Do you need to go back home tonight?”_ The acrid scent of sadness dissipated as the moon rose higher, blanketing them in the promised darkness. Lexa caught a glint in Clarke’s eyes when the alpha stood in a lazy stretch. 

_“Why do you ask?”_

There was that glint again, and Clarke growled from the back of her throat. Lexa had a ten-second start before the alpha ran in a chase.

* * *

After another night in the woods, Clarke walked Lexa to the Trikru side of the forest as the sun gave the first signs of a new day. With a last nose to nose touch, the black wolf headed to her clan. 

Trotting and happy, Clarke made her way back to her pack house. They lived in a three-story farmhouse close to the Fire Forest, with a large driveway and an inviting porch with the pansies Octavia planted in late summer. Clarke grabbed a coat next to the front door as she shifted to human form.

Whistling, Clarke entered the warming house that showed signs of early risers. The smell of coffee and buttered toast spread from the kitchen, and she could hear the soft bacon hiss. 

At the noise of the front door opening, Bellamy mumbled a good morning with bleary eyes and messy hair, never turning from his frying pan. As Clarke entered the kitchen, the other alpha did a double take on her barely clad form, raising a dark eyebrow.

“Oh, shut up,” Clarke replied to his wink and grabbed a toast from the table. 

There was a low grumble coming from the den, and Clarke smiled as Raven, in wolf form, walked lazily to the stove, whining for some of Bellamy’s food. Clarke chewed loudly and ruffled Raven’s chestnut fur. 

_“Good morning, princess. Fun night?”_ Raven sent over their bond, and Bellamy slipped her some bacon. 

Clarke smirked over her toast.

Raven barked. _“You got laid, didn’t you?”_

_“Who got laid?”_ Octavia joined the group from the stairs, in her golden-grey form, fur tussled from sleep. 

“Princess did,” Bellamy said, mouth full of bacon. 

“And that’s my cue to leave.” Clarke grabbed a second toast and left the kitchen, leaving her pack fighting for bacon.

She stopped on her eager walk back to her room at the sight of her mother sipping newly brewed coffee at the main office’s door.

Abby looked up with glasses fogged under steam, eyes checking Clarke’s partial nudity, a leaf still in her hair and mud on her left cheek.

“Good morning,” the Ark chief greeted her daughter with a smirk that Clarke classified as suspicion. “Getting ready for work?”

Guilty, Clarke scratched the back of her neck. “I was going to bed. I have a shift at seven tonight.” She turned, but a mother always knew. Abby pulled Clarke back by her coat, a surprised yelp leaving the young alpha’s mouth.

“Clarke Griffin.”

“Abigail Griffin.”

“Don’t ‘Abigail’ me.” Abby laughed, releasing the coat, and Clarke grinned at her mother. Guilty as charged. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Mom.”

“You know, with protection and—”

“Yeah, I got it.” Clarke covered her blushing face with her palm because neither of them needed a second dose of the talk that happened after Clarke’s first rut. They were both doctors, and they still cringed at that memory.

“Is it one of us?” Abby asked while taking another sip of coffee. 

Her mom had a dream of Clarke mating inside Ark Clan. Differently from other clans, mating with an outsider was not a problem for the Arkers, but Abby didn’t like to leave her comfort zone, especially with her only daughter. 

Clarke blushed. “Not really.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“She’s great, mom.” Clarke attempted a second escape, and this time it was Abby’s sigh that made her stop. At that, Clarke confessed, “She’s Trikru.”

Abby took the information with raised eyebrows followed by a frown. “You know their ways are different from ours.”

“Anya and Raven manage just fine.” Clarke shrugged, looking down at her bare feet. She heard her mother taking a deep breath, measuring her words.

“Yes, but please be careful.”

There was an undertone in Abby’s voice that Clarke didn’t comprehend. It was something her mother was not saying, and the doubt pushed her to ask.

“What about Trikru that you dislike?” Clarke was falling for Lexa, and if her mother was against it, she wanted to know why.

Sounds from downstairs—sleepy voices and long yawns—traveled to the upstairs corridor. Abby took a step inside the office and motioned for Clarke to come inside. The door closed with a squeak from the old hinges, the wood muffling the voices and laying a blanket of silence between them.

“It’s not that I dislike them.” Abby placed her mug on a small table by the door. “They’re very different from us, and that includes mating.”

Clarke’s blue eyes shot open at the word mating. She was falling for Lexa, and she couldn’t deny her gums itched that night when they were first together, but mating was for life. “I never said I wanted to mate Lexa. We’re only dating for now. Even that is a little blurred, honestly.” Clarke said in a rush, unsure of the affirmation herself. 

Abby turned her head so fast that Clarke had to take a step back. “Lexa?”

“Yes?” Confused, Clarke studied her mother’s dark eyes, reading fear in them.

“As in Anya’s cousin?” Abby’s voice was sharp, and Clarke squared her shoulder, her wolf interpreting it as a challenge. Abby didn’t relent and Clarke shook her head—she should know better than to challenge her sire, the Ark Clan Chancellor.

“Yes, Anya’s cousin.”

Abby cursed and walked swiftly to a dark green couch inside her office, sitting down in a huff. “Are you fooling around with this girl, Clarke?”

Clarke had barely processed her mother’s reaction—why would she know Lexa in the first place?—and focused on the question at hand.

“No. It’s more than that.” Clarke followed and sat next to Abby, looking her in the eye. At her admission, Abby didn’t show any relief, only aggravation.

“Clarke,” she started slowly, and Clarke’s heart accelerated. “Do you know who Lexa is?” She was talking to Clarke as if she were a pup, slow and condescending. 

“She’s a teacher,” Clarke defended.

Abby snorted, rolling her eyes. “That’s one way to put it. Yes, teaching is one of her many obligations.”

A shiver ran down Clarke’s spine, and her fingers clutched the worn leather of the couch. Her mother took a deep breath, as if saying it hurt more than hearing it.

“Lexa is heir to Trikru leadership, Clarke.” The words didn’t make sense at first until Abby landed the killing blow. “Lexa is the next heda.”

_Heda_. As in Indra was the current heda. Leader, commander, chief.

Lexa, the girl she tasted under the moonlight, was the next leader to the oldest, more traditional, biggest and merciless clan in wolf history.

Lexa lied to her.

“How come I don’t see her in meetings?” Clarke’s brain searched for a way out.

“Trikru future hedas aren’t allowed to be seen in public meetings like the ones you attend. Lexa is present in inner meetings, though.” Abby had the decency to blush, because Clarke would be allowed in such meetings soon, but not yet. She was not part of the council yet. “Lexa will be part of such meetings after her ascension.” 

Clarke’s cheeks warmed from shame, then anger. How could Lexa lie to her like that? Clarke had told her who she was from the start. Were these last weeks a game? A ruse for the future heda to show her dominance?

“There’s more, Clarke.”

Incredulous, Clarke stared at her mother because there was nothing more important that Lexa could have hidden from her.

“Trikru hedas aren’t allowed to mate outside their clan. I don’t really know the details, but Indra has mentioned it before.”

There’s the word again, _mating._ Someone laughed downstairs, and Clarke felt lightheaded.

“Clarke.” Abby waited until Clarke met her eyes. “Lexa is promised to a Trikru alpha.” Abby continued, “Indra told me this herself. Her niece, Lexa, is going to be mated inside their clan.”

“But…” The rebuttal died before Clarke could voice it.

There was an alpha somewhere who loved Lexa.

There was an alpha somewhere whom Lexa loved.

Clarke remembered dark fur glowing like silver under the moonlight and swallowed in her dry throat. 

The betrayal stung, not only her heart but behind her eyes. Clarke stood up and didn’t look back at her mother. She couldn’t take the pity.

“I’m going to rest. I have work tonight.”

Abby didn’t protest, accepting the cheap excuse with silence.

Hurt lodged itself in Clarke’s heart, heavy with the festering fear of abandonment. She discarded the coat when entering her room, high in the attic. She allowed the tears to fall only when she started to shift, drying them with a long tongue once her wolf emerged.

Her wolf sided the hurt with anger, growling in the empty room. She could still smell Lexa in her fur.

Burying herself under the covers, Clarke tried her hardest to hold her howl, plunging in a fitful sleep.

* * *

The next few weeks were troubling for Clarke. She avoided any contact with Lexa, which included pointed looks from Raven. Her wolf protested, calling for Lexa, but she couldn’t ignore the possible political problem between clans that already have such a strained relationship.

The fire that consumed the forest between the clans, a decade and a half ago, was never truly investigated. Wolves from both sides died, and leaderships were shaken. Abby assumed after the tragic death of Chancellor Jaha, but she also lost a husband and a pup, so no fingers were pointed at her. In the Trikru side, Heda Kemji went through a trial, and all that Ark Clan knew was that after said trial, Indra assumed as heda. 

Losses on both sides and conspiracy theories that never really died over the years. The peace was achieved with Ark Clan offering their science and knowledge through their hospital, which accepted wolves from all clans. Trikru offered territory, even if limited, and supplies for the growing Ark Clan. 

Clarke was not ready to disturb a delicate alliance because she fell in love with the wrong omega.

More than a month after the biannual celebrations, and her encounter with the omega that shook her life, Clarke walked back to her car after another shift at the Ark Hospital. The humidity in the air thickened in her nose with the fire tones of trees, the sterilized smell of the hospital and, above all, rich earth and newborn flowers. Clarke cursed and against her own will took another deep breath; she knew that scent.

Cold fingers dug into her purse to fish for her keys, and when she looked up, Clarke found green. Her keys hit the ground with a click of metal against the stone pavement. Lexa stood next to her, light leather jacket moving against the wind. Her hair was down, no sign of her usual braids. 

“Clarke, we need to talk,” Lexa pleaded, hugging herself, and Clarke first thought it was because of the cold, but then she saw red-rimmed eyes. Her stomach turned, but she swallowed down and looked away.

“Lexa, I don’t think we should.” Her lungs squeezed in protest as the words came out, an inner battle to tame her wolf’s need to comfort Lexa. 

_Her omega_.

The thought was uninvited, and Clarke avoided Lexa’s eyes, kneeling to get her keys.

“Clarke, please, listen to me.” Lexa’s voice was shaken, insecure. Clarke had never seen the omega like that. Her scent filled the air around them, heavy and metallic. Clarke gulped.

Clarke licked her dry lips, blinking fast to not show weakness. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.” Lexa nodded eagerly and looked behind her shoulders. Clarke noticed Anya and another man, hair cropped short and well-built shoulders, leaning on the other side of the dark green hummer.

Anya’s eyes were cold and murderous. Clarke ignored her to focus on Lexa one more time.

“Lexa, are you promised to another alpha?”

Clarke saw the moment Lexa’s eyes widened, watched her mouth open and close as her eyes filled with tears. 

“Clarke, you don’t understand, that’s—”

“It’s a yes or no question, Lexa.” Her tone was cold, colder than she intended. However, she couldn’t give any more reason for Lexa not to be honest. 

Lexa set her jaw and nodded.

Even though Clarke was expecting it, it stung.

“I don’t think we should talk anymore, Lexa. I don’t want any problems between our clans. I thought… I thought you could be honest with me, like I was with you.”

Tears escaped Lexa’s eyes, cooling against heated cheeks. 

“Let me explain. Please,” Lexa pleaded.

She was not a woman who pleaded.

Other wolves walked around them, and a pair of nurses waved at Clarke. 

“Not here,” Clarke said, pressing the button to open her car. “Fire Forest, tomorrow night. I’ll find you.”

It was the first time Lexa smiled that day. “I will find you.”

Nodding, Clarke entered her car. She watched Lexa walking back to Anya and the other man, and saw the sharpness in Anya’s expression as she and Lexa exchanged curt words.

With a deep breath, Clarke closed her eyes. 

This could be messy.

* * *

The sun was barely set when Clarke ran to the Fire Forest. Too much pent up energy raged her body, and the run would do her good. She ran in zigzags to where the clans’ line met, hoping to find any trace of Lexa’s scent. 

As the moon paraded in the sky, there was no sign of Lexa. Clarke ventured closer, in Trikru territory. She knew there were guards around their borders, but she laid low to try and catch any whiff of Lexa’s whereabouts. 

Still nothing.

Morning would invade the sky in a couple of hours before she caught a scent. Not Lexa, but faintly familiar. 

A grey wolf with snout, ears and chest peppered with black and white made itself apparent. He did not have a threatening appearance or smell. A beta. Lexa’s pack.

Grey eyes met hers, and Clarke remembered the man next to Anya in the parking lot. 

_“Where’s Lexa?”_ Clarke kept her tone and stance neutral, mirroring the larger wolf. 

_“She won’t come. And you should leave.”_

Clarke stared at the wolf, whose posture didn’t change. Neutral, non-threatening. Something was off.

_“I need to talk to Lexa. I’m Clarke, from Ark—”_

_“I know who you are.”_ Under the pale moonlight, the grey wolf expanded his chest, bathed in silver. He didn’t move but didn’t take a step back either. _“And you, Clarke, should leave.”_

_“What happened?”_ Clarke wouldn’t back down. _“I won’t go before talking to Lexa.”_

The wolf then did something Clarke would not expect; he deflated, rolling his eyes in annoyance. _“She said you would be stubborn. Look, Lexa can't meet you. I cannot say more than that.”_

_“Is she ok?”_

_“Clarke,”_ a different voice joined, followed by a low growl. Anya _—_ all wild, dark-golden fur and canine bared, joined the two wolves. _“You should leave.”_

_“Anya.”_ The beta wolf, unfazed by Anya’s growl, said her name in a tired tone.

Clarke was at a loss. 

_“If you don’t leave now, guards will pursue you.”_ Anya took a step in Clarke’s direction, ears pulled back. Clarke responded with her own attacking stance, showing teeth. 

_“I’m welcomed in Trikru clan,”_ Clarke replied, her face contorted in aggression.

The beta wolf took a deep breath, calming pheromones invading the alpha’s muzzle. 

_“Not anymore,”_ Anya growled. _“Leave.”_

_“Not until I see Lexa.”_ Clarke noticed more wolves approaching, growls filling the quiet night air of the forest. Dried leaves broke under the steps of fast wolves. Four, no, five new scents took place around them. 

_“Lexa wants nothing to do with you,”_ Anya spat the sentence, fiery eyes locked in Clarke’s blues. _“You’ve done enough.”_

_“She was the one who wanted to talk to me.”_

_“Clarke.”_ The grey beta, taller than both Clarke and Anya, broke their stare contest by stepping between the two alphas. _“You should leave.”_ He didn’t take an offensive posture towards Anya, but the Trikru alpha swallowed her growl at breaking her stare with Clarke. 

Another wolf joined the trio in the center, golden with red marks on his ears and paws. Green eyes met Clarke’s. The new wolf sent something in the bond that Clarke couldn’t understand, using their native language. After Anya’s nod, the new alpha—an alpha male, Clarke noticed—turned and faced the white wolf. 

His scent was also familiar, not like Anya’s or the beta’s, who were Lexa’s pack. It was like this alpha carried a bit of Lexa with himself.

Oh.

Clarke took a step back. Her offensive stance deflated, much like her ears and eyes, looking down at her own paws.

This was—

_“I’m Tonka from Trikru. I am to be our heda’s mate. I ask you to leave our clan’s border kindly. If not, I will accept it as a breach of our peace treaty.”_

He was bluffing, Clarke knew it. She looked him up and down, Lexa’s fading scent on his fur. He didn’t seem shocked, or angry… he was resigned. He repeated the order at Clarke’s inaction. Deep green eyes without the fury that fought with sadness inside Clarke’s own blue. 

She could take him in a fight. The beta and Anya would be troublesome, not to mention the guards, but she could cause enough of a raucous to demand and see Lexa. 

But at what cost?

She could lose her place in the council. Abby herself could be questioned under other high members of Trikru. And the worst-case scenario, war. Clarke had never lived through a wolf war.

And she was too much of a doctor to cause one herself.

She took a step back, locking eyes with Tonka, Anya and the calm beta. 

_“This is not over,”_ she sent to the other wolves before turning in direction to the Ark clan. Anya and the beta wolf followed her until she crossed the border, their scents diminishing after that. 

The sun had painted the first splashes of morning when she entered her pack home. She headed to her bedroom, locking the door.

Maybe this was for the best. Her relationship with Lexa clearly posed a threat to the clans’ peace; the safety of her people was first in her mind. Not in her heart though, as the memory of Lexa was hard to forget.

She would have to do it though, forget the omega. Lexa would mate with Tonka and be the next heda, and Clarke would assume as the new chancellor. They would be polite in meetings, and she hoped their once amiability would mean a peaceful future for their clans.

The thought ripped a meaning growl from her throat. Convincing her mind was easier than her wolf, who felt betrayed, hurt and abandoned by Lexa. The idea of Lexa mating with such a weak alpha, that excuse for a wolf who dared to give her orders, made her feel sick. Clarke left her room and went outside as the sun dried the night dew. She needed to hunt, drag her teeth into flesh and calm her frustrated wolf.

Between her conflicting emotions, one thing she was sure: she would avoid Lexa. 

* * *

Clarke’s nerves were getting the best of her. Almost two weeks since her confusing encounter at Trikru border, and she was barking and biting at everyone in her pack. Her resignation to not pursue Lexa clashed with her wolf, her angry alpha wolf, and her inner turmoil bubbled out at any excuse. 

“Someone's in rut,” Octavia complained as Clarke yelled at her for being late. Clarke had promised to drive Octavia to the hospital for the young omega’s checkups, but Octavia took longer than expected to meet Clarke at her car. 

“I have a shift, and you know it,” Clarke growled, tires skidding as she accelerated, headed to Ark Clan center, where the hospital was. 

“You’re like thirty minutes earlier.”

“I need to clock in and change.” Clarke’s grumbles lost their acidity when the alpha concentrated on driving.

“Raven’s right. You’re being a total bitch.” 

“Where’s Raven, by the way? Haven’t seen her in days.” Clarke knew Octavia was right, but she couldn’t confide in her pack for this. No, it was better for the entire clan if her brief relationship with Lexa remained a secret. 

“She went on a getaway or whatever with Anya.” Octavia completed with a fake puking sound, and that got a smile from Clarke. 

“You not a fan of our dear Trikru neighbors?” 

“Not Anya.” Octavia looked at the road, watching the orange trees of the forest consuming the horizon. 

“That I can agree.”

They drove in silence for a while until Clarke turned and they entered a more busy road. Ark Clan downtown was filled with shops, research centers, restaurants and the hospital. Clarke felt pride in her people's prosperity. 

“Clarke,” Octavia said as they parked in the hospital parking lot, the same one Clarke had argued with Lexa not too long ago. The alpha swallowed the memory with a grunt, closing her car’s door a little too forcefully.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you need to keep it together, ok?” Octavia’s voice broke Clarke’s flashback. “Take suppressants, go on a hunt, jack off, I don’t care, but you’re our Clarke and we miss you.” 

Clarke felt the omega’s pheromones, calm and open, and she looked from the ground to meet Octavia’s green eyes. The young omega was a sister to her and knowing her own behavior was affecting the pack was embarrassing. Clarke could do better than that.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll do better.” She placed an arm over Octavia’s shoulder, and they walked together to the main entrance. 

Clarke was trying hard to forget Lexa but battling her wolf was not simple. 

Tonka’s eyes as he asked her to leave came back to memory. Cold, tired. It was how Clarke felt under the anger. Apparently, Lexa could leave that kind of mark in alphas.

Gritting her teeth one last time, Clarke kissed the side of Octavia’s head before letting the omega go to her own appointment. 

Lexa was a mistake in her life, and Clarke refused to let it bring her down. 

* * *

It could be mold. Or maybe it was that old pizza stain from when Clarke was still a teenager. It could even be that one time Octavia tried to learn how to paint a few years ago.

Clarke had no idea what the stain on her bedroom ceiling was, but in the past days, she had been staring at it for too long. After the anger drift into sadness, Clarke struggled with accepting Lexa would never be in her life, not in the way she wanted. She wanted to think she was dealing well with it, that Lexa was a quick fling and nothing else, but her wolf chose Lexa, and she couldn’t have her.

Lexa didn’t want her. 

Lexa wanted tall and golden, the red-ear punk who could barely look Clarke in the eye. 

Suited her.

She was pretty sure it was mold.

A loud knock on her door was Raven’s only warning as the omega burst into the sunlit room.

“How was the romantic getaway?” Clarke mumbled, intending to continue her one on one with the stain on her ceiling, but the sight of Raven’s tear-filled eyes startled her.

“What happened?” As the future leader of the clan, Clarke had the instinct to protect every member of the pack. Omegas especially.

Raven locked the door behind her, hazel eyes furious on confused blue ones.

“How could you?” she spat, venom in every word, a hate Clarke had never heard from her childhood friend.

Clarke frowned at the accusation, sitting on her bed. “What are you talking about?”

Raven scoffed, crossing her arms. “Don’t play fool with me. How could you abandon her like that?”

“Whoa, what? Lexa?” Clarke stood up, and Raven replied with an angry huff.

“I never thought you’d pull some shit like that, Clarkey.” She looked disappointed, rebel tears finally escaping. “Does your mother know? Shit, Pike’s gonna flip.”

“What else should I do, Raven? I can’t risk our clan’s safety.”

Raven bristled in anger. “Oh, so the big bad alpha will just sit this one out and leave the omega alone, huh?” 

Clarke looked at Raven, incredulously. “Are you crazy? What else is there for me to do? Lexa is going to mate some, some _dude_ in Trikru and there’s nothing I can do about it!” A little bit of the anger seeped into Clarke’s words. “She didn’t even tell me she was going to be heda!”

The surprise Clarke expected in Raven’s eyes never came, and instead, she glanced down to the floor. “Yeah, Clarke, I know. But not anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

Raven’s head snapped back up, looking incredulously at Clarke. “Lexa won’t be heda now, Clarke. How could she?”

What the fuck was going on?

“Anya is to assume now,” Raven completed, voice soft, weak, and Clarke remembered what her mother told her about Trikru hedas.

“She broke up with you.” It was an affirmation. Raven nodded, using both hands to clean her face. Anger bubbled in Clarke’s chest, erupting in a low growl.

“What did you expect was going to happen?” Raven, again, used an accusing tone, lips pulled in a snarl. Clarke couldn’t believe she was defending Lexa.

“I expected you to be on my side!” Clarke burst, crossing her arms so as not to shake Raven’s shoulders.

Raven opened her mouth to protest, the room escalating in pheromones, but she saw something in Clarke’s eyes that stopped her rant.

“Oh fuck.” Raven sighed and shook her head. “You don’t know. Anya thought you knew. That’s why she hates your guts.” Raven avoided Clarke’s eyes, her pheromones dampening.

“Raven”—Clarke touched her pack sister’s arm—“what is going on?” Her arms shook, her wolf tensing, and time stopped for the moment it took for Raven to breathe.

She looked at Clarke, those dark, kind eyes that Clarke knew. The anger gone.

It was definitely mold, Clarke’s mind decided when the silence stretched.

“Clarke.” One of Raven’s hands went through her hair until the end of her ponytail, a nervous habit of the omega. “Lexa’s trial is this week, and she'll probably be cast out from Trikru.”

Clarke swallowed on nothing. “Why?”

“Why do I have to do this,” Raven mumbled to herself, exasperated. “They could accept an affair with another alpha,” she explained, hands twitching in front of her. “But there are some things they wouldn’t accept from a future heda.”

Clarke’s mind reeled. Was Lexa going to be packless? Abandoned in human society? Wolves didn’t survive alone. Was that Clarke’s fault?

Guilt settled heavily on her stomach, along with a small spark of anger that never left.

“What didn’t they accept, Raven?”

Blood rushed to Clarke’s ears, her muscle tensed and her mouth went dry. Her body prepared for a blow.

“They will never accept an heir who is not a pure-blood Trikru.”

Clarke hated the expression that old clans used. ‘Pure-blood’. As if they all weren’t a mix of the same wolves starting and ending clans.

Realization started to hit her with why that would be a problem for Lexa, but Raven beat her muddled brain.

“Lexa’s pregnant, Clarke. And yeah, it’s yours.” She laughed nervously, but Clarke couldn't process the humor.

Lexa was pregnant.

Clarke answered her own question before voicing it out loud.

Their first night. The knot.

Anya freaking out. She knew the consequences if it happened.

_“Clarke, we need to talk,”_ Lexa had pleaded. Lexa was not a woman who pleaded. 

Lexa’s pack at the border, her future mate. They didn’t want Clarke screwing things up any further as Lexa waited for her trial.

“Oh my God,” Clarke breathed, falling back on her bed, her wolf trembling. 

The mold on the ceiling mocked her as her vision blurred with tears.

  
  
  


  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> special thanks to @jkerr for being my beta wife for this ride! this will be a... wild one.  
> ba-dum-tss  
> get it?  
> wild.  
> wolves?  
> ok, I'm done.


	2. Chapter 2

Raven never stopped her endless list of arguments why that was a bad idea.

It was dangerous.

It was disrespectful.

It was kind of stupid.

It was dangerous—she kept repeating that one.

But it was also the easiest decision of Clarke’s life. She dismissed every reason with her only response: She wouldn’t leave Lexa alone. 

She packed lightly. Clarke hoped to return before sundown, carrying only water, a snack and a change of clothes. The sun would set in a couple of hours, and she should hurry if she wanted to get to the other side of the forest in time.

“This is not a good idea.” Raven followed her downstairs, watching as Clarke adjusted a satchel on her shoulder. “The last thing anyone in Trikru wants to see is your face.”

“She’s being banned from her own clan, Raven. A clan she swore to protect and lead.” Clarke closed her satchel, pulling at the worn leather. “I can’t leave her alone.” 

Clarke understood Raven’s confusion. She herself had accepted the one-eighty her brain took in the last twenty-four hours, but it didn’t mean everyone in her pack did. She went from not wanting to see Lexa again to possibly breaching a peace treaty to help her.

But things had changed. Oh, how they had changed.

Clarke had not, by far, processed the fact that Lexa was pregnant. It seemed like a faraway reality, a sign from behind blurred glass. But Lexa, now, needing her… that was real, and she could do something about it. She wanted to do something about it. 

When Raven found out about Lexa’s trial, the outcome was obvious. They knew Lexa would be banished from Trikru. Best-case scenario, she would be condemned to a life of loneliness. Worst-case, Trikru could even kill her. There were precedents. 

And Clarke could not let that happen to Lexa or her unborn pup. 

Gosh, she was going to be a sire, and she couldn’t think of it for too long without feeling overwhelmed. 

Raven caught up with her at the back deck. 

“What if she doesn’t want to come with you, Clarke?” 

She had a point. But Clarke didn’t want to think of a path where Lexa rejected her. At least not yet. 

Lexa was pregnant and soon to be alone, and that to a wolf equaled danger. Clarke’s wolf wouldn’t let that happen. Even if Lexa was disappointed with their last interaction, Clarke hoped she would see that coming with her would be the best for the pup.

“I’ll worry about it if it happens,” Clarke replied, shedding her jacket and kicking off her shoes as she stepped on the cold ground. 

“Clarke,” Raven insisted, pleaded, because her friend was about to barge into a Trikru clan’s trial. Not to mention, Clarke was one of the reasons why said trial was happening. The culprit, some might have said. 

“Don’t tell my mom until I’m back with her, okay? Just tell Bell and O to stay close to the border.” Clarke shifted, stretching her limbs until a white wolf was in front of Raven.

_ “I’ll howl if I need help.” _

Lips in a thin line, Raven nodded. “I still hate your plan.”

Clarke trotted her way out of the back garden, the autumn greens starting their slow crawl to winter death. Raven followed close behind. They walked in silence until the trees started to thick, the temperature going down under the shades. 

Clarke used her teeth to adjust the satchel closer to her expanded rib cage. Raven knelt to help, patting the white fur. 

_ “I have to go, Raven,”  _ Clarke said, not meeting her eyes.  _ “It’s my pup. And Lexa...” _

Raven scratched between Clarke’s ears. “Take care. We’re close if you need us.”

Clarke licked her chops and took off into the dense forest.

Autumn was the season that named the Fire Forest, before it became an irony.

The exuberant green trees transformed into a sea of burgundy, orange, and fire under Fall’s strength. Clarke’s paws broke dry leaves on the ground, but most of them were still strong above her head, dyeing the sky orange and red.

She ran as fast as she could, heart throbbing in her ears, leather stretching over her fur, and the single goal to bring Lexa back to keep her going. 

Clarke was aware the moment she stepped on Trikru land. There was a lingering smell of wolves in the air, tangy and close. Guards, she thought. Maybe another welcome troop like last time?

But no wolf came to stop her, and the thought that maybe even the guards were busy watching Lexa’s public humiliation brought bile to the back of her throat. 

Trikru territory was extensive, but the largest village was close to the border. Clarke saw the restaurant she had been with Lexa as she approached the tree line. On second thought, she used part of the damp mud on the ground to cover her scent and white fur. She would remain covered by the trees as long as she could.

The closer she got to the main village—she had visited once, still as a pup—she identified more scents. The vague memory of Trikru village was of pups like her, smell of fresh bread and wild animals. 

As the sun set, all Clarke could smell was the acrid scent of fear and disappointment.

She saw the first guard when the trees started to thin. He was young, a teenager. Trikru started early, but he was just a kid. He should be in training.

It hit her when she noticed the way he frowned; he was the only one here because the others must be watching Lexa’s trial. A public affair, as most Trikru punishments were. 

The boy was the unlucky one left behind.

She hadn't left the forest cover when she spotted the gathering. It was too quiet for the dozens of people together. Clarke couldn’t see yet what they were looking at, but she had an idea. 

The young guard didn’t notice as she slipped through the trees. The stone streets were cold against her paws, with thin layers of moss where stone met stone. She walked behind the houses, some with unexpected modern designs and styles. Not meeting anyone’s eyes, she followed the thinning crowd to what she supposed was a central square.

The proportion of wolf and human form was similar, though they all carried a heavy expression. Some even anger. She couldn’t see any pups, though she could smell them, hidden away by their parents.

Whatever was going to happen, no parent wanted their pups to see.

Trikru was a large clan, though their members were notoriously private. Even though she was a stranger, no one approached to question her; her presence was forgotten as the entire clan seemed to worry for their leaders. Still, she had to be careful. 

A pair of brown eyes focused on her, and Clarke looked down, going between houses until she found a higher hill that worked as a parking lot. It seemed empty until she heard tiny gasps. One look around an old sedan showed three pups trying to hide behind the faded green vehicle. 

_ “Please don’t tell anyone!” _ The largest one, a grey wolf, asked Clarke with pleading blue eyes.  _ “We just want to see Aunty Lexa!” _

Aunty Lexa. Like the kids at the festival.

How could someone so loved be treated that way?

Clarke swallowed hard and looked away from the pups. One jump and she was on top of the car, laying down to see a circle opened in the middle of the crowd that was larger than what she could see from the trees. It was where the gathering took place, in a central square. There weren’t many trees around the crowd, and she could see the wooden stage where Indra, Anya and other Trikru sat in robust chairs made of dark wood, furs and bones. 

Indra read from an old book in a language Clarke didn’t understand. She noticed how Indra made an inhuman effort not to look away from the book, dark eyes following at the words and hands trembling. It was not easy for her to say those words. Next to her, Anya stood tall, hands clasped in front of her and eyes empty, sad. 

In the middle of the circle, the attention of the quieted crowd, a lonely wolf stood. 

The midnight black fur shone like molten gold against the setting sun. Posture rigid like a rock as she regally took every word that must feel like blows. Lexa barely blinked against the wind, the sun and the sentence. It was a sentence by the way the crowd finally erupted into murmurs when Indra stopped her monologue.

Indra closed the book, and Anya took it. She approached Lexa, who didn’t meet her eyes. Then, as one, the crowd gasped, the fading murmurs suddenly stopping.

Clarke growled but forced the sound down.

Lexa waved under the strength of the blow, licking the blood from her lips. 

Still, Indra didn’t meet her face, hand now in a fist at her side. Anya touched Indra’s arm, and the Trikru Heda stepped back. 

More growls started in the crowd, but they died when Indra shouted what Clarke assumed was an order. 

Lexa’s eyes were cast down, but it was visible now how she trembled. 

On the stage, right in front of Lexa, a woman touched Anya’s shoulder and whispered against her hair. The woman must be an alpha, Clarke decided. Her dark skin and eyes were too hard and angry to be anything else. Next to them, the alpha who Clarke had met, was Tonka. He looked small next to Anya and the other woman. 

“You shouldn’t be here.”

The voice startled Clarke, who lost her balance and fell from the top of the car in an undignified heap. There were no giggles, so the kids must have left. She stood and saw the man that had been with Anya and Lexa at the hospital parking lot. The grey wolf with kind eyes. Tall, strong, and jaw set, he stared down at her.

“I’ll escort you to Ark territory,” the man said with finality, turning around, and Clarke noticed his clothes. An orange cape, Trikru tattoos, a golden pin fixing the cape to his shoulders. Weapons—a sleek pistol and a sheathed sword with a wooden, detailed handle. It identified him as part of the leading pack and probably a warrior, a guard. 

Someone that would harm her if she didn’t obey.

_ “I came to help Lexa.” _

His back still to her, the man replied, “I’m afraid there’s nothing else to be done.”

Clarke growled, and he reacted fast, hand on his sword handle as he turned to face her. “If anyone catches you here, you’re dead, and we will have a clan war in our hands,” he whispered. Heaving a sigh, dark eyes scanned around them. “Please, Clarke from the Ark Clan, follow me.” 

_ “Where is she going?” _ Clarke was really testing her luck here, but if this man knew who she was and what she represented, he knew not to kill her without a good reason. 

“You’ll see.” There was a certain glint in his eyes, a tinge of fondness that tugged at Clarke’s heart to trust him.

They took a longer path back to the forest, going through shadows, between houses, avoiding the dispersing crowd. 

Clarke heard crying but focused on the man leading her away.

When they got to the tree line, more guards appeared. They stared at Clarke with nothing but hate, hands tightening around swords and guns. Clarke’s eyes darted around, and she knew it would be a lost battle if she fought them all. 

“Stand down,” said the man leading her, and by the way the other guards took a step back, Clarke was sure this man was some kind of commander or captain. “She’s with me.”

“Lincoln, this woman—”

“She’s under my protection,” he stated the order with a naturality that proved he had been doing this for years. “Lexa?” he asked another guard, one less prone to question his decision, it seemed.

“Headed west,” the guard answered. 

West, Clarke thought. It’s opposite to the Ark Clan. Her heart sunk in the realization that maybe Raven was right, and Lexa did not want anything to do with her.

Lincoln didn’t wait for her confirmation and headed west, giving a last order to the remaining guards in the same clipped language Clarke couldn’t understand. The eyes that watched her go were hurting, suffering. These men had lost their leader and, in their minds, Clarke was to be blamed. Silently, she followed Lincoln. 

Clarke’s ears rose at the slight catch of omega scent. She ran ahead, but a strong hand pulled her back by the satchel around her torso.

“They won’t follow us,” Lincoln used a kind voice, an apology for pulling her. He looked around them, closed his eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. “She’s weak, hasn’t eaten well for days. The guards on her cell tried, but she refused, and the little she got came right back up.” A worry line painted his calm face, and Clarke whined. Lexa was suffering; she had been in a cell. Clarke swallowed hard.

“She can’t make it out of the forest,” Lincoln continued. “Do you have water with you?”

_ “Yes.” _

Nodding, they followed Lexa’s scent in silence through the forest slowly being swallowed by darkness. Lincoln used a flashlight once the trees got too dense. In her wolf form, Clarke didn’t need the extra light; the rising moon was enough. 

Lexa had made it two miles before collapsing. 

They found her panting on the ground, and Lincoln didn’t try to stop Clarke as she leaped. She shifted, using her hands to check Lexa’s pulse.

Green eyes opened in confusion, blinking at the sight of Clarke.

_ “Clarke? What are you doing here?”  _ Even through the wolf bond, Lexa’s voice was small and weak. 

“I came for you,” Clarke said with the same calmness in her hands as she checked Lexa for possible injuries. From a few steps behind, Lincoln watched them. 

_ “I thought you wouldn’t.” _

Clarke’s fingers ran over the dry patch of Lexa’s chops, a sign of dehydration. There was a cut there from Indra’s blow, not deep, but angry and red. She touched the tender skin and helped Lexa drink some of her water. Lexa could lick some before coughing. 

Lincoln kneeled next to Lexa, helping Clarke to get her back up. But Lexa’s paws were trembling, knees weak, and the black wolf whined painfully when Clarke tried to help her stand. Lincoln touched his nose to Lexa’s snout, closing his eyes, and Clarke realized they must be talking through a private bond, a common connection for pack members.

“She means well,” he said out loud and took off his cape. On cue, Lexa coughed and shivered, and Clarke held her tighter to her chest. “She needs care,” Lincoln said to Clarke. “Do you need help carrying her to your pack home?”

Clarke didn’t need to ask why he assumed that was where Clarke would take her. She rubbed some of the dirt from her cheeks that were still there from her early attempt at disguise and nodded. 

Clarke got more water and a change of clothes from her leather satchel, dressing simply and trying to give more water to Lexa. Lincoln used his cape as a makeshift hammock so they could both carry Lexa in her wolf form all the way to Ark territory. 

Lincoln positioned himself behind Clarke without asking as they adjusted to Lexa’s weight. The wind picked up with the sundown, and they both felt when Lexa shivered from the cold. Clarke adjusted the flashlight Lincoln had carried and the hammock in both hands. 

Without words, they turned east. 

Lexa’s low whining dissolved into a restless sleep between them. 

They stopped twice to give more water to Lexa. Lincoln coaxed her to eat a cracker when she refused the dried meat Clarke offered with a grimace.

After three hours, they were close to Ark Clan lands. Sweaty, tired, and aching, Clarke took a deep breath.

“Who is—” 

A blur in the night interrupted Lincoln’s question, and he found himself pinned down by a golden-grey wolf. Another one, a few feet back, dark brown and large, growled at him. 

Lexa winced quietly when her back hit the cold ground of the forest.

“O! Bell, stop! He’s with me!” Clarke kneeled to check on Lexa, but the omega hadn’t opened her eyes. She was beyond exhausted. 

Octavia, the wolf that topped Lincoln, growled lowly, teeth bare, staring him down with aggressive, piercing green eyes. He didn’t fight her but didn’t offer submission either.

“Hi,” Lincoln tried, but Octavia only growled louder. 

“I told them to wait for you!” Raven, panting and in human form, caught up with the group. Clarke was still kneeling next to Lexa and seeing if the fall did any more damage while Octavia and Bellamy had their ears back in an offensive posture at Lincoln. “That’s Lincoln, he’s cool,” Raven offered. “He’s Anya and… I mean, Anya’s pack,” she corrected herself in a low voice. 

Octavia took her paws off Lincoln’s chest, but she was ready to attack at any sudden movement, tail high and ready to pounce.

“I need help to carry her home. To my bedroom,” Clarke said and watched as Bellamy shifted and got to the other end of the hammock. 

“You okay?” Bellamy asked, looking down to see Lexa’s slumped form. 

“I’m fine. But she’s dehydrated and needs help. Now.” Clarke’s tone gave no space for questions, and they set to their home.

“I need to go back,” Lincoln said, and Raven nodded. Octavia growled again, raising her hackles. He opened his mouth to say something else but stopped. He turned and went back into the dark forest, only the slight sound of paws against leaves resounding. 

It was not as smooth as Clarke wanted, but she and Bellamy managed to carry Lexa to her room. Thankfully, Abby appeared to not be home.

That was a talk Clarke wanted to avoid for now. 

“Can you make a light soup?” Clarke’s voice was hoarse, from exhaustion and the shameful lump in her throat for being responsible for Lexa’s state. “She needs to eat, but we’re starting with something easy to digest.”

“Yeah,” Bellamy replied. “You’re going to be okay?”

Clarke, dirty-faced and disheveled clothes, searched for supplies in a drawer. She answered in a low grunt, “Yeah.”

Bellamy looked between Clarke and Lexa one last time before leaving the room. By his look, Clarke had the impression Raven had told them. 

When Clarke inserted the IV to help Lexa rehydrate, the black wolf was still out, breathing slow and regular. Clarke washed her face in the ensuite bathroom, seeing herself in the mirror—dirt, worry lines and dark bags. She took a deep breath. She couldn’t break now. Not with Lexa needing her help, not with…

Her hands shook as she opened the door. Pup. They were having a pup. Clarke hadn’t thought about it thoroughly yet. Would Lexa join her pack? How would the Council react to that news? 

“Clarke?” Raven opened the door slowly with a guilty expression. “Can you come out here for a little bit? I can watch Lexa,” she amended when Clarke shook her head.

Clarke closed the last buttons of her shirt, still in a disarray from the forest. 

“I couldn’t hold her,” Raven whispered, and before Clarke could voice her concerns, she heard someone clearing their throat in the hall.

She was not really surprised when she found Abby, hands on hips and frown in place.

“What’s happening?” Abby, the clan alpha, asked. 

Clarke’s eyes welled with tears. “We need to talk.”

* * *

Clarke’s office was smaller than Abby’s, her notebook and reports scattered on the long wooden table. Her office was on the same floor as her room, and the idea of being close to Lexa made Clarke feel more comfortable. 

Abby sat opposite from the main chair behind the desk, her lips pressed together as she watched her daughter pass a hand through matted blonde hair. She didn’t say anything, and her silence was unnerving for the trembling Clarke.

With a deep breath, Clarke sat down and pushed aside the papers on her table. Blue eyes met questioning brown, and Clarke cracked. 

“The wolf in my room is Lexa.” 

Abby raised both eyebrows in surprise but didn’t comment. She waited as Clarke took another deep breath.

“She was banished from Trikru,” Clarke continued, “She hasn’t eaten well in days. I welcomed her here.”

Politics on the table, Abigail Griffin spoke, “There must be a very good reason for Indra to do this to her own niece.”

Clarke swallowed. It was harder than she expected. “Mother…” A traitorous tear escaped, and Clarke hurried to wipe it. “Lexa’s pregnant.” 

Abby was a very intelligent woman. A fierce leader, a remarkable doctor, and she had years of experience as an alpha, mother and surgeon. She made the connection right away.

It didn’t stop her from widening her eyes and gasping like the concerned sire she was.

“Clarke, I…” Much like her daughter, she threaded her fingers through her hair. “I assume you’re the sire,” she forced out, half angry, half astonished. Clarke couldn’t read her.

Clarke could only process her burning feeling of shame. It crawled on her skin and tore it, forcing her to push it down and face her mother. 

“Yes. It’s why she’s here.”

Abby nodded again, eyes unfocused. “Do you have any idea the implications of this act, Clarke? Indra can turn against us, not to mention…” Abby swallowed whatever she was going to say, instead standing up to rest a hand on Clarke’s shoulder. “But it’s your pup. We will take care of them.”

Clarke didn’t need words; her relieved pheromones showed how grateful she was. 

“I’ll set a council meeting,” Abby said, hugging her daughter. “We can make this work.” The last sentence was more to herself since they both know neither Pike, Kane, Sinclair or Callie would take this well.

“I’m sorry,” Clarke whispered, a private moment to be weak. Outside this room, in front of Lexa and the council, she couldn’t be anything but a strong alpha.

“We’ll make this work, Clarke.”

* * *

The fur under Clarke’s palm was warm and soft. She watched as Lexa stirred in her sleep, eyes moving under tightly closed eyelids, but the wolf only whimpered before settling. 

After the soup Raven helped her eat, Lexa fell into a deep slumber. Her body needed the rest, and staying in wolf form would help the healing process. 

Now, close to two in the morning and with Lexa completely out, Clarke approached her. Lexa’s wolf unconsciously searched for Clarke’s touch, omega pheromones filling the room. 

“I’m sorry,” Clarke whispered in the low light of the room. “I’m sorry I didn’t go to you earlier. I’m sorry all of this happened.” 

Lexa’s ears twitched, and Clarke held her breath. The black wolf took a deep breath and snuggled against the warm blanket.

“You’re safe here,” Clarke said, hand on Lexa’s fur. She was not sure where their boundaries stood, but her hand itched to touch Lexa’s exposed belly, to feel the warmth of their growing pup. In the morning they would go to the hospital for a full physical checkup to make sure the pup and Lexa were doing fine after her harsh last few days.

She leaned down to place a chaste kiss on Lexa’s head, the wolf sighing in her sleep at the touch. With a deep breath, Clarke marveled in the scent that had enamored her since that first night at the biannual meeting; it had always been fresh, but now, now it had a welcomed layer of early morning dew, of wet earth, fresh like the pages of a new book. 

Not wanting to disturb Lexa in the bed, Clarke turned into her wolf form and stretched on the rug next to her bed. 

Sleep didn’t find her easily, but she finally surrendered to it at the sight of Lexa well and recovering.

00000000

There was a whine filling Clarke’s room, and that was what brought her back to consciousness. She stretched lazily on the floor, her back popping as she sent her hips up in a stretch. She yawned, shaking her head, confused about why she was on the floor.

More whining from the bed brought back the memories from last night—of going to Trikru and Lexa. 

In her human form, Clarke kneeled next to her bed to check on Lexa, who continued to whine, eyes closed tight and paws kicking off the blankets. 

“Hey, hey, you’re okay,” Clarke said and approached the distressed wolf calmly, one hand finding the sensitive spot under Lexa’s chin and caressing there. “Lexa,” Clarke tried again, watching as green eyes blinked open.

Sleepily, Lexa licked her chops, slow and clearly still fighting sleep. Confusion soon morphed into fear, and the wolf pushed back against the bed.

“Lexa, you’re at my pack’s house. We came here from Trikru. You’re okay,” Clarke reaffirmed, hands on the sheets, waiting for Lexa to remember. 

_ “Clarke?” _

“You’re safe.”

Lexa’s erratic breathing slowed down, her body slumping on the bed. 

_ “My head,”  _ Lexa complained, the same whine that woke Clarke leaving her lips again.

“Here.” She poured water into a small bowl for Lexa to drink. Clarke checked the IV in Lexa’s arm, replacing its bag to make sure the omega stayed hydrated. “We need to keep you hydrated. Are you hungry?”

Lexa shook her head, eyes closing for a second. 

“It’s okay, focus on drinking something for now.”

In silence, Clarke waited for Lexa to drink more, watched as her eyes closed for an impromptu nap as she finished the bowl. Lexa didn’t protest when Clarke joined her in bed, the black wolf’s head resting on Clarke’s chest. Lexa purred, in and out of sleep, drinking more every time she would wake up for a bit. 

“Raven will take you to the Ark General Hospital if you’re up to it,” Clarke whispered to a twitching dark ear when Lexa woke up an hour later. “A full checkup will be good for you and the baby.”

Lexa blinked awake, nodding. She allowed Clarke to help her off the bed, her legs a little shaken. 

_ “Are you coming with me?” _

“I need to meet with the council.” 

Lexa nodded, dark lips pulling up in a small snarl. 

“No, nothing like that,” Clarke hurried to explain. “You’re welcome here, Lexa. But this is not something I can hide from them.”

Lexa’s black nose huffed in a long exhale. She licked it and nodded, resigned. 

“Lexa?” Clarke touched the soft fur under Lexa’s chin. “We’ll make this work,” Clarke repeated her mom’s words. Green eyes met her for a moment, tense and open. The cold of Lexa’s nose brushed against Clarke’s palm, exhaling a long breath. 

* * *

The emergency council meeting was held in Abby’s office. The room smelled of strong coffee and a bitter aftertaste of anxiety, since surprise meetings were usually a sign of distress in the clan. Callie sat on the dark leather couch, away from the main table, dark eyes fixed on Abby and Clarke as the younger Griffin explained the situation with short, effective words. 

Sinclair was at the table, on one of the dark wooden chairs, one hand scratching the side of his greying head while his face contorted with something Clarke thought to be a mix of pity and sadness. 

Marcus sat next to Sinclair, listening with one hand under his chin, eyes pensive.

Behind Callie, hands resting on the back of the couch, Pike stood, his frown deepening at every new revelation Clarke confessed to the highest ranked leaders of their clan.

The sound of Abby taking a sip of coffee was the only thing they could hear for almost a minute as Clarke stopped talking, the present leaders clearly digesting what that could mean to their people.

“Let me get this straight,” Pike’s deep voice broke the silence. “Indra’s niece, the quiet lady heda from the meetings...” He looked at Abby and waited for her to nod to keep talking. “Got pregnant with Clarke’s pup here”—He pointed at Clarke—“And proceeded to get kicked out from Trikru for  _ fraternizing  _ with someone outside Trikru? And we opened our house, our clan, to said pariah?” 

“Don’t call her that,” Callie said quietly, looking up at Pike. “It’s not the girl’s fault.”

“It was a consenting act, as far as I know.” Pike walked around the couch and crossed his arms, dark brown eyes fixed on Callie. 

“Of course it was,” Clarke said from the table, lips pulling back at the beginning of a snarl. Abby touched her arm, and Clarke shook her head, mirroring Pike’s crossed arms.

“Pike has a point.” Sinclair stood up from the chair, his placating beta pheromones breaking the tension in the room. “If the girl became a pariah for Trikru, they won’t take it kindly that she’s under our protection.”

“But she’s not just any girl,” Abby responded, placing her coffee mug on her desk. “She was once to be heda, a member of their leadership pack and now she carries an Ark Clan pup. We have grounds to take her in.”

“All her titles from Trikru were severed when they condemned her in trial,” argued Pike. The bright light in Abby’s office reflected on his shaved head, emphasizing the flash of wolfish yellow in his eyes that shone for a second. “They could still take it as an act of treason, or even war.”

“They wouldn’t start a war because of a girl they banned.” Callie crossed her legs on the couch, one hand threading over her long, dark hair. “That wouldn’t make any sense, Pike.”

Taking a deep breath, Marcus continued Callie’s line of thought, “I even dare say Indra just let her go because she knew Clarke would help her. Indra cares about her pack.”

“Trikru are savages,” Pike spat the words, looking briefly at Callie and Marcus before meeting Abby’s eyes. “They would use their own pups to gain more power and territory.” He forced a laugh out, short and humorless. “What’s there to say the girl is not using this pregnancy just to create tension and division?”

From the other side of the room, Clarke growled, hands fisting until her knuckles turned white. 

“How do you even know the pup is yours?” Pike raised a thick eyebrow, a clear challenge. 

Clarke took a step away from the table, eyes ablaze in repressed fury, but Abby placed a heavy hand on her shoulders, fingers digging into her tensed muscles. 

“I wouldn’t bring this to this meeting if we weren’t sure Clarke was the sire,” Abby said evenly, not falling for Pike’s comments. “Besides, if you think Trikru doesn’t value blood relations, then you don’t know them at all. They are still led by one single pack, blood-related, unlike us.”

“Is that so?” There was venom dripping from every word that came out of Pike’s mouth, implications made even clearer as he looked from Abby to Clarke. 

“Goddammit,” Marcus mumbled under his breath. 

Abby’s jaw flexed once before she spoke, “Clarke was elected for her position, and she’s currently under training. Your son lost that election to her the same way you lost to me. We have elected members in our council, and you should be thankful you’re still part of it.”

“As in anyone who questions your authority should not be part of the leadership?” his back straightened as he replied, teeth showing. 

“As in someone who already failed in leading this clan should not even participate in elections.” 

“That’s enough!” Marcus stood up and blocked the sparkling line of vision between Abby and Pike. “What happened is in the past now. The present is what matters, and in the present, we have a Trikru Clan refugee who has valid grounds to be welcomed by us. We should, however, get in touch with Trikru and let them know what happened.”

“Who is to assume after Indra now?” Callie stood up, stretching. 

“Anya. Indra’s pack,” Clarke replied and took a deep breath to control the anger still stirring inside her.

“You are all fools to think this is not a political move.” Pike walked to the door with heavy steps. “They are using that girl to claim our territories and resources.” He slammed the door behind him. Callie sat down on the couch again and rolled her eyes.

“There is a chance he might be right,” Marcus said calmly, and Abby hummed in agreement. 

“Clarke,” Abby said before her daughter could protest. “We need to be prepared for everything.”

Clarke huffed, head shaking at what she was hearing from her own mother. “If you had seen her the night they banned her, you would think differently.”

“I’m well aware of the state the omega was in when you brought her in—without my consent, I must add.” 

Callie and Sinclair shared a look at the escalating argument. 

“But as the clan alpha, I must prepare for any outcome, and that includes conflicts. If you aspire to be in my position, learn from this. Meeting adjourned,” she added briskly, and Callie and Sinclair left the room without any further comments. Marcus offered Clarke a sympathetic gaze before leaving the room. 

“You don’t trust me?” Clarke asked once they were alone. 

“Trust is something that needs to be earned, Clarke. What has Lexa done to earn yours?” 

Clarke couldn’t hold her mother’s gaze, biting on her lip. “She trusted in me, in us, by staying here.”

“That’s a good first step.” Abby touched Clarke’s clenched fist, slowly massaging the pale skin until Clarke conceded and let her mother hold her hand. “But we need to know if Trikru has any other plans for Lexa.”

“Besides leaving her in a freezing forest to die alone?” Clarke didn’t want to lose her patience, but after listening to Pike suggest the same thing, there was only so much the young alpha could take. 

“In politics, we learn that not every move is what it looks like. It doesn’t hurt to turn every stone.”

Clarke met her mother’s eyes, fight leaving her own. Her eyes were bloodshot, stinging. She was tired, and that was just the first meeting on the topic. She feared Pike would not give up that easily. 

“Do you doubt the pup is mine?” Clarke asked in a small voice. 

“No, Clarke. I trust you, and you’ve earned my trust. But I barely know Lexa, and the little I know is that she’s a smart woman who loves her people more than anything.”

“Mom, her pup is her people too.”

Abby nodded, smiling softly at her daughter. “I know, Clarke. And moms do anything, anything to protect their litter.” Her smile turned bittersweet, their hands gripping a little tighter at the memory of Clarke’s brother and father. 

“I feel we can trust Lexa, mom.”

“And I honest to God hope you’re right.”

* * *

After the meeting, Clarke sat down with her mother to draft possible reactions Trikru could have to Lexa being taken under Ark Clan’s wing, but Ark Clan’s official responses would have to be discussed once the council was assembled. Clarke was not looking forward to that.

Leaving her mother’s office hours later, Clarke saw Raven on her way down the stairs, her high ponytail bouncing at every step. 

“Raven?”

Raven smiled down at Clarke, hopping the last steps to meet her friend. From her raised eyebrow, she was aware of Clarke’s question.

“Lexa’s good, Clarke,” the omega said with a tone of honesty that warmed Clarke from the inside. “But she was tired after all the tests at the hospital. Jackson said he will call you as soon as he gets the results from the lab. However…” Raven hesitated, brown eyes looking down between them. “I think you should go and talk to her. She seemed a little overwhelmed with everything.”

Clarke nodded. Even hours after the meeting, the lingering feeling of rage remained. It wasn’t that Clarke expected her clan to accept Lexa without questions, but she wasn’t expecting the hostility Pike showed. She could only hope the alpha wouldn’t call for a conflict or even challenge Abby’s leadership because of her actions.

With a deep breath, she thanked Raven and walked up the stairs back to her room—which might become Lexa’s room if the omega didn’t want Clarke to stay there. Clarke was prepared for that.

She knocked on the door, slow and light, not wanting to disturb Lexa in case she had fallen asleep. When no response came, she opened the door with the utmost care, wincing when the old hinges whined at the movement. 

The body on the bed, naked and in human form, stirred but didn’t wake up. Lexa mumbled in her sleep, dark brown curls spilled like fallen leaves on Clarke’s pillow. The alpha smiled, closing the door behind her just as softly, approaching the bed with careful steps. 

Lexa had her nose snuggled into Clarke’s pillow, breathing deeply, a random snore escaping every now and then. Her skin, sun-kissed, peeked out from between the bundled covers, relaxed muscles at show. Clarke swallowed drily and stepped ever so close, sitting at the corner of the bed. The old wood creaked under her weight, and the cutest frown painted Lexa’s face, her forehead creasing in annoyance at the disturbance. 

Clarke stopped, and stayed still, afraid she had woken Lexa. The omega turned, arms stretching, but her eyes remained closed. Exhaling a breath Clarke just noticed she had been holding, the alpha touched Lexa’s legs, a delicate caress. She needed something real and warm to remind her what she was fighting for. 

“I woke you up. I’m sorry,” Clarke said when the leg under her palm stirred, lazily stretching but not pulling away. 

“No, it’s okay.” Lexa cleared her throat, turning to face Clarke. One hand moved some of her hair from her face, green eyes blinking. “I just needed a short nap.”

“You should rest.” Clarke squeezed Lexa’s shin delicately. She realized she loved the way Lexa’s hair looked after sleep, and she would enjoy it even more if their pup had that hair. More than that, Clarke wanted that version of Lexa to be part of her life. “We can talk once you’re awake.”

Lexa’s lips pursed as if she would protest, but any tension seemed to have left her body at a long yawn. “Just a nap.”

“Yeah.” Clarke smiled and made to stand up, but one long leg sneaked its way to her lap. Lexa’s face was already turned to the pillow, but Clarke heard her voice.

“You can stay, if you want.”

That was somewhat new. A moment for themselves, like before. Before everything went sideways, and their growing intimacy bubble had been popped by clan politics, pregnancy and threats. Clarke raised an eyebrow, but Lexa didn’t even turn, the leg on Clarke’s lap unmoving, as if waiting. 

Expanding her lungs with the deep scent of Lexa, Clarke slowly moved to the bed. One knee found its way to the mattress, Lexa’s body dipping to the side when Clarke climbed in. Emboldened, the alpha rested one hand on Lexa’s exposed ribs, leaving a path of goosebumps until it stopped on Lexa’s flat stomach. Clarke leaned down, sharing Lexa’s pillow, nuzzling under wild chestnut hair.

Together, they took a deep breath. Clarke felt Lexa’s torso expanding under her hand, closing the space between them as she hugged the omega from behind. 

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Clarke whispered, low and raspy, fingers tightening on bronze skin. 

Lexa arched her back, clearly enjoying the attention. “Everything happened so fast,” she said, voice so small Clarke struggled to listen. 

“We’ll talk once you wake up. All that matters now is that you’re safe.” 

The anger from before, the worry, all the emotions from her unsettled wolf slowed down when Clarke felt Lexa’s presence. It was almost scary how quickly she responded to Lexa’s wolf, but she had given up fighting this pull. She let herself be lulled by the initial spell of sleep, eyes closing, heart slowing down, hand still firm and warm over Lexa’s belly. 

“Did Raven tell you?”

The question came beyond the fog of sleep, and Clarke blinked, confused, processing what Lexa had said.

“What?” she asked sleepily, the word muffled by Lexa’s hair. 

“Oh. Nevermind.”

At the peak of pheromones from Lexa, Clarke frowned, shaking her head to focus. “What happened?”

Lexa turned in Clarke’s arm, timid eyes meeting a sleepy blue gaze. “About the pups?” 

Up and so close, Lexa’s face looked younger. Tiredness still laced her face in the dark shadow under her eyes, but she was so beautiful that all Clarke could do was watch that sharp jawline, the redness of her high cheekbones, the endless of her green eyes.

And then it hit her.

“Pups?”

Lexa bit her lower lip, fighting a growing smile. “Yeah.”

Coldness ran down Clarke’s spine and settled in her stomach, a mix of excitement and apprehension.

“How many?”

“Two.”

“You said you were a litter of one,” Clarke breathed, the wind suddenly knocked out of her. One hand on Lexa’s hip as her eyes focused on where the pups were. 

“But  _ you _ were a litter of two.”

The reminder of JJ was warm, old nostalgia. “So it’s my fault?” Clarke said when she found her voice. 

Lexa placed a leg between Clarke’s, cuddling closer. “Yes.”

In the quiet of the room, it felt as if the pieces were falling into place for Clarke. She had her omega, her pups, her clan. Her mother was right; things would work out. 

“So it’s two?”

“Two,” Lexa replied, voice thick with sleep again.

“As in there are two babies inside you?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think they will be grey?”

“Maybe.”

“Wouldn’t that be cute?”

“I’m fine with whatever coat, as long as they are healthy.”

“Yes.” Clarke kissed Lexa’s forehead. 

Lexa’s nose found a delicate spot on Clarke’s neck, right under her jaw. She sighed contentedly. 

“Do you think they will have hunter marks?”

“Clarke.”

“Right, right. I’m sorry. I’m excited.” Clarke twitched her hips in the unmistakable muscle memory of wagging a tail. 

Clarke felt Lexa’s smile on her neck. “Me too.”

Lexa’s fingers played with the end of Clarke’s hair on her nape, a comfortable silence settling on the couple. 

There were many things they needed to discuss, decisions to be made, councils to pacify.

But for now, for this slice of time, their tiny bubble was back on.

* * *

The hospital in the early morning was where Clarke felt at home. She preferred to run her visits bright and early, waking up the patients with some good humor whenever she could.

This morning though, Clarke had left home with a wolf in her bed. Lexa had barely moved as Clarke woke up, burying herself under the covers as soon as the alpha’s warmth left her. With one last kiss to the dark-furred head peeking out from the blankets, Clarke left for her morning shift.

After her rounds, she had a mug of steaming coffee while updating the records from her morning visits by the nurses’ station. 

“Just the woman I was looking for.”

With a hand on her shoulders, Jackson smiled at the alpha, soft brown eyes crinkling in mirth. 

Clarke accepted the hug from her old friend, laughing quietly. “You look tired. Been here all night?”

“All night,” he agreed. “I was going to the lab to get some of Lexa’s results. Join me?”

Clarke turned her head a little to the side, question ready in her lips because that would be unusual. The technicians from the lab always brought the results to the station. But something was off; a flash of nervousness passed through Jackson’s eyes, a twitch to his shoulder, and an unusual high in the beta’s pheromones. Clarke found herself nodding, following him to the usually empty path to the labs on the lower floor.

“Jackson?” Clarke asked as soon as they made it to the stairs, away from the bright light of the hallway. “Is Lexa okay?” 

“Yes, Lexa and the pups are fine,” Jackson responded with a lower voice, his eyes glancing to the door behind them. “That’s not why I wanted to talk to you here.”

“What happened?” Clarke fisted her hands, a feeling of unease washing over her. 

“Someone else came asking after Lexa.” The beta kept looking back at the door and to the stairs above them. Following his eyes, Clarke also looked around, making sure they were alone. 

“My mom?” 

Jackson shook his head, adjusting his white lab coat. 

“Pike stopped by, late last night,” he started, and Clarke’s blood ran cold. “He wanted to know the date of conception.”

“What?” Clarke hissed, jaw clenched. Jackson’s eyes widened in sympathy. 

“Yeah. I obviously couldn’t give him anything, but Clarke, he’s council. He’s gonna get that info eventually.”

“It doesn’t matter. At least he will stop questioning.” They exchanged a glance, and Clarke shrugged. 

“I’m sorry. Lexa seems like a good mate.”

Clarke gulped, nodding. “She’s special. But Jackson, let me know if Pike starts asking questions about Lexa again, okay?”

“Of course. And Clarke?” His smile was back in place. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks. Two, right?”

“You’ll have your hands full with two little Griffins running around.”

That same feeling of excitement and fear pooled in Clarke’s stomach. “And your girls? Doing alright?”

“Yeah. Sarah will turn four next week. Just you wait,” the beta laughed quietly. “Having pups change everything, Clarke.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“C’mon. Since we’re here let’s check the lab.”

Clarke followed, mind already reeling. What could Pike gain from trying to check if the pups were not hers? Or maybe he just wanted to mess with her; he knew Jackson would let her know. Pike could be looking to make Clarke look weak, unstable. Unfit. 

Whatever was happening, Clarke needed to find out. 

* * *

The following week passed by with the laziness of aftercare. Lexa, recovering, slowly made her comfort zone expand from Clarke’s room. She mostly stuck to Raven for talks, considering they already knew each other before, but Octavia was warming up to the omega. Bellamy, always skeptical, kept his distance. 

Sometimes in the late afternoon, Lexa would help Octavia as she replanted the flowers and greens on the porch for the colder season. The younger omega would do most of the talking, with Lexa quietly agreeing and giving a helping hand whenever they needed to get their hands dirty. One afternoon, Clarke saw Octavia, in wolf form, walking around Lexa’s legs while Lexa watered the newly planted greens. 

In one of these days, Clarke made it back from the hospital to find Octavia, Raven and Lexa on wooden recliner chairs at the porch. The sun had just set, and the omegas seemed relaxed, sharing stories and tea. 

“Ladies.” Clarke climbed up the steps, interrupting what seemed to be an exciting story Octavia was telling.

“You got here at the right time, Clarkey. Octavia was just telling us about the morning after your graduation.”

Clarke’s eyes narrowed. She looked from Raven, who smiled sweetly, to Octavia, who simply smirked. Lexa looked curious. “Which graduation?”

Raven, still smiling like the innocent wolf she was not, replied, “Med school, of course.”

“No.” Clarke’s entire face burned, and Octavia burst out laughing. “That’s not worth remembering.”

“Basically,” Raven continued, uninhibited even under Clarke’s glare. “It was pretty close that Clarke’s first visit to the hospital after becoming Dr. Griffin was with her as a patient.”

“Raven,” Clarke pleaded.

“But now I need to know,” Lexa argued, eyes sparkling with amusement. 

“In my defense, Monty had just started to brew his homemade moonshine,” Clarke said while staring at Lexa, which only made Octavia laugh even more. “And it was not as bad as they are making it look—”

“Wait.” All mirth was gone from Lexa’s voice, and one of her hands grasped at Octavia’s thigh, asking for silence. Clarke and Raven followed Lexa’s stare to the Fire Forest tree line. “Someone’s here.”

All four wolves had their gazes on the woods now, quiet, listening. Clarke’s ears caught the faint sound of rustling leaves—wolves, more than one, running.

Not Ark Clan.

“Octavia, with me. Raven, stay here with Lexa.” Clarke was already pulling at her shirt, ready to shift. 

“I can—”

“You can stay here, where it’s safe.” Clarke cut Lexa’s protest with a pleading look, her gaze briefly stopping at Lexa’s center. Begrudgingly, Lexa nodded.

In their wolf form, Clarke and Octavia trotted to the tree line, ears high in the air waiting for another sign of movement. It didn’t take long, coming from deeper in the forest.

The white wolf gave chase, followed by Octavia’s grey and gold. Clarke picked up the scent of a beta and an alpha, maybe familiar, but she was unsure. They could be trying to mix their scent. 

_ “It could be a trap _ ,” Octavia sent to their bond as the distance between them and the pack house grew. 

_ “But we need to check _ ,” Clarke’s reply was final.

It wasn’t exactly a hunt or a pursuit; the closer Clarke felt the scent of the foreign wolves, the more she realized these wolves wanted to attract them there. Which could mean that Octavia was right. Paws firm on the ground, Clarke broke their pace, blue eyes focused on Octavia. 

_ “You go back. I will check what is happening.” _

_ “I won’t leave you alone,”  _ Octavia insisted, huffing into the cool air. 

Clarke growled, ears falling back.  _ “Octavia.” _

The omega huffed, turned around, then back at Clarke.  _ “Don’t be stupid, why would you go alone, what if it’s an actual trap?” _

Before Clarke could send her response, a familiar mottled wolf, black and dark golden, made itself known, walking from between two trees. Its amber eyes focused on Octavia, then Clarke. 

Clarke turned, hackles raised, teeth showing. Instinctively, Octavia mirrored her stance. The dark wolf didn’t react, and another larger wolf joined it, grey and similarly calm.

_ “Anya,”  _ Clarke said, not relaxing her offensive posture.  _ “What are you doing here?” _

Anya lowered her head, not exactly submitting but showing she meant no harm. The wolf next to her, Lincoln, did the same gesture. 

Clarke growled one last time but relaxed. 

_ “We mean no harm,” _ Lincoln said, eyes to the ground. Octavia sniffed the air and also relaxed her tense muscles. 

_ “Have you spoken to Lexa?” _ Anya asked, and Clarke almost growled again.

_ “Of course. We welcomed her here. Why would you even ask that after doing what you did?” _

Clarke did not expect the flash of hurt that crossed Anya’s face or the faint scent of shame.  _ “So you haven’t really spoken to her about what passed in Trikru.” _

_ “I fail to see how any of it would change the situation.” _

Ignoring Clarke’s remark, Anya continued,  _ “I will come back in a fortnight. Talk to Lexa. We might not have much time.” _

_ “Time for what?”  _ Clarke was at a loss.

_ “How could you do what you did to Raven?”  _ Octavia spat, her teeth flashing for a moment.  _ “You made a promise to her and now suddenly she’s not good enough?” _

_ “Octavia,”  _ Clarke glared at the young omega, voice authoritative. 

_ “Please talk to Lexa.” _ Lincoln, the large beta, took a step forward between Octavia and Anya.  _ “Not everything is as it seems, Clarke,”  _ he directed his last phrase at the white wolf. 

_ “A fortnight,”  _ Anya repeated. 

_ “What was that all about?”  _ Octavia asked once they were alone.

_ “I don’t know. But I don’t have a good feeling about it.” _

Clarke needed to find Lexa.

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy
> 
> Special thanks to @jkerr who actually makes this story readable


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmm.... hi. I know it's been a while. I had ... reasons? yeah. that.  
> love you.  
> *sweats profoundly*  
> here it is

_ Responsibility demands sacrifice. _

Lexa had learned that saying before she could grasp the real meaning behind it. A life of preparations, of teachings, tutors, lessons, discipline. Lexa never asked for the responsibilities thrown at her since birth, but she never shied away from them. She took up the mantle, accepting her fate, and she learned.

She learned Trikru history, her clan’s successes and faults. War, treason, peace treaties: the ones that they still held and the ones that ended in a long list of body count. Trikru culture, the easy and the ugly. Lexa learned that her clan was not only the leadership pack. She talked to the common folks and discovered their ways, their secrets, and, between learning to be a leader, she learned to be loved. 

And to love.

She saw the injustice and the problems and decided that it had to change.

Trikru had to change. 

And no one but her was in a better position to do that. 

However, smart as she was, Lexa couldn’t simply defy her aunt, her heda. She had to be patient. To wait. To lower her head like a good omega and wait for her time to rule, her precious time under the sun to start what one could call a revolution. Bring modern ideals to Trikru, help her clan to evolve, to be better. To heal. 

And now gone.

Her plans, her dreams, her hopes—evaporated in a matter of days. A lifetime of ideas lost because of one night.

Still, she couldn’t think of Clarke with bitterness. Their connection was undeniable, she felt it since that first meeting at the beach. What she shared with Clarke was part of Trikru history, her own culture. A pull for a mate that transcended logic. 

Which only made things harder to look Clarke in the eyes now. 

“Anya approached me,” Clark said, arms crossed over a long-sleeved grey shirt. The cotton was soft, Lexa felt it when the alpha guided them back to Clarke’s office on the third floor. Lexa knew it was Anya, of course, she felt Anya’s scent all over Clarke as soon as she made it back from the forest. 

But she had no idea why Anya would come after them now. Not after…

Her cheek stung at the ghost memory of Indra’s slap. 

“She asked me if we had spoken,” Clarke continued, and Lexa sat on the chair in front of the desk, one hand on her forehead. “That things are not what they seem.” 

This could signalize some kind of hope from Anya. She would be heda now, after all. But it also could mean danger. Danger for Clarke, for Ark Clan, and, as Lexa touched her belly, for her pups. 

Clarke sat down on the chair opposite of Lexa, and the leather squeaked under her weight. She waited until Lexa met her eyes. Clarke’s eyes were eager, so open and blue. 

“What did she mean, Lexa?”

Clarke had always been painfully honest with Lexa. Maybe it was time she deserved that same level of honesty. 

“Clarke.” Lexa took a deep breath, arms around herself. “I’m sorry.”

A golden eyebrow rose in confusion, but Clarke waited for her to continue. Lexa bit her lower lip, a small token of her growing anxiousness. 

“I did what I had to do,” she started, searching within herself her unnerving list of reasons on why she had sworn to become heda. 

Clarke frowned, a deep line forming on her forehead. She leaned forward on the desk between them, hands joined. Her lips formed a slight pout—a tell Lexa had picked up whenever Clarke concentrated or was about to kiss her. 

Lexa could only hope she would be able to kiss her again after Clarke learned the truth.

“Trikru is an old, no,  _ ancient  _ clan. Which by itself is not a problem if our mores had evolved with time.” Lexa clenched her jaw, remembering her clan’s so-called glory of physical punishments, omega submission and youth recruitment to wars they did not even remember why were being fought.

“My pack has been leading Trikru for more than a century now. We are known for being just.” She emphasized the last word, hoping Clark would understand that it didn’t always have a positive meaning. “Your entire clan’s history is younger than just the time my family has been leading Trikru.” 

Clarke nodded, her shoulders rising in tension. The alpha didn’t say anything, but Lexa presumed she didn’t need a history lesson on her own clan’s history. 

“In my pack,” Lexa started again, one hand resting next to Clarke’s. “It is customary to have arranged mates. Trikru was born from the union of many smaller clans, and some division maintains. The arranged mating guarantees leaders with different points of view, or at least that was the original idea. Today, it simply doesn’t work.” 

Clarke huffed at the mention of promised mates. Lexa remembered how Clarke had asked her if she was indeed promised to another alpha, and how helpless she was to explain everything with the news of the pregnancy. 

Lexa whined in the back of her throat at the thought of these days; she hadn’t told Clarke the details that passed between finding out her condition,  _ being found out _ by Indra, and the days in a cold cell. 

A pale hand touched Lexa’s clenching fist, easing it into a soft hold. “Go on,” Clarke said, voice clipped with tension but her hand softin Lexa’s. 

“Anya’s future mate died in his childhood, and none had replaced him. Though I believe that will change soon,” she added. “That was the reason Indra overlooked her relationship with Raven. And the connection between our clans would also be beneficial, especially with Anya being an alpha.” The last phrase brought the telltale taste of bile in the back of Lexa’s throat, but she closed her eyes and swallowed it, regaining control. “Lincoln despises his future mate. And Lincoln despises absolutely no one.” The thought of her kind cousin helped Lexa center her attention. “Those arrangements are the reason we take longer to mate in my pack. We just avoid it.”

Clarke fidgeted in her chair, playing with Lexa’s fingers. The alpha didn’t meet her eyes, and Lexa knew what her question would be.

“My promised alpha, we…” Lexa felt her face contort into a grimace; how to explain Tonka without it sounding pathetic? What could be a polite replacement for a dull sack of potatoes? “We used to be good friends, growing up. But he got involved with certain people in our clan that are against any kind of modernization. Which, in hindsight, I see as a move to get to me. He’s a good man, just… impressionable.”

“I met him,” Clarke huffed, pursing her lips.

Lexa couldn’t hold back a small smile. “It was honestly hard to imagine a lifetime with him.” Lexa raised Clarke’s hands up to her lips, hoping the kiss would help the alpha understand that was not even a remote possibility anymore. 

“When heda, I would implement changes in my pack, including the ban of arranged marriages. But I couldn’t defend it publicly before assuming. And…” She let Clarke’s hand go, placing a palm over her mouth for a brief second. Squaring her shoulders, she met Clarke’s eyes. “And I knew I would need allies in other clans to maintain my position once I started the changes in Trikru. Allies from modern clans that shared my view, more precisely.”

Lexa watched the information sink in. She watched Clarke squinting her eyes, widening them soon after. The alpha’s throat flexed as she swallowed.

“It’s why you approached me.” It was not a question. Clarke’s voice was low but sure. Hard blue eyes found Lexa, and the omega held back a whimper. “You knew who I was from the beginning.”

“Yes.” Lexa would never deny it. She was ready to tell Clarke everything, but she was definitely not ready to have Clarke walking away from her. “Please let me explain.”

Clarke nodded, crossing her arms, eyes watering, but no tears escaped. Lexa felt her face warming, her throat closing, but pushed through; Clarke deserved to know.

“My entire life, pleasure and duty were always orthogonal choices. I constantly chose my responsibilities, my people’s survival over anything that could bring me joy.” She reached to the desk again, palms up. Clarke looked down but didn’t reach to touch her. Lexa felt the first tear making its way down her cheek.

“That night, Clarke, that night was the first time in my life that I found both. Yes, I knew who you were, and I realized you didn’t know who I was. But Clarke, I…” She used one hand to wipe at her stubborn tears. “I never planned what happened. I thought we could be good friends, I never imagined we coul—” Her phrase died in a long sigh. Lexa had a hard time putting words to what that first night meant for her.

“When I saw your fur and at the beach—” Lexa looked up when Clarke’s hand found hers on the table, their fingers intertwining. 

“I felt it too,” Clarke confessed, voice hoarse. 

“I never, never let myself go.” Lexa’s tears roamed freely, and she focused her gaze on their hands. “And when I do…” She laughed bitterly, looking down at herself. 

Clarke broke their contact to stand up and walk around the table. She knelt next to Lexa’s chair, one hand on Lexa’s knee and the other on the omega’s face, gently turning so their eyes met. 

“If any of this is going to work, you need to promise me something Lexa,” Clarke said, her own tears prickling at her eyes. “You need to promise to never try and manipulate me again. Me or my clan.”

“As long as it’s a mutual promise.” Lexa looked around the room, heart pounding too much every time she met Clarke’s eyes. Lexa knew Ark Clan might have plans to use her position, and she wanted to be ahead of any move. Lexa hissed, leaning her head on Clarke’s shoulder. “I can’t blame them for not trusting me.”

“I promise. Lexa, we need to act as a team.” The hand on her knee gripped her tighter. “I’m sorry for what happened at Trikru. I was there; I saw part of the trial, and I can’t fathom how I’d react if that happened to me.”

Lexa opened her mouth, surprised. She raised her head, swallowing a hint of shame. She knew Clarke had found her in the forest, but part of her had hoped she hadn’t witnessed the entire ordeal. 

Her cheek felt warm. It would take a long time for her not to feel Indra’s slap. 

“But you’re here now.” Clarke’s voice brought her back. “And we need to work together if we’re getting out of this mess.”

Clarke’s hand slowly made its way to Lexa’s thigh, slow enough that she could put a stop to it. She once more met Clarke’s hand and tugged her up so they could meet in an embrace. 

“We need to talk to Anya,” she said onto the alpha’s shoulder, Clarke’s warmth and presence calming her. “Something could’ve happened.”

“And I need to convince the council you’re not a threat. Lexa.” Clarke pulled away so she could see Lexa’s face. Clarke’s eyes were a lighter shade of blue, tinged red with tears and tiredness. “Can I trust you?”

Lexa felt her lips wobbling, her ears burning. “The reason I agreed to stay was not because you’d be the only one to offer me shelter. Or the pups.” 

Lexa had friends in other clans. People and packs away from Trikru’s entanglement. She could go, start a new life, raise her pups far from any political strings. 

“The reason I stayed, Clarke”—she raised a hand to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind Clarke’s ear—“is because I trust you. The same reason we slept together. It never felt wrong to me.”

“You feel like my best decision,” Clarke whispered on Lexa’s lips, capturing them in a slow kiss. 

Lexa let Clarke kiss her, slowly and thoroughly, tongues meeting in a measured push and pull. It was not an invitation, Lexa understood. It was an affirmation, a promise. They broke the kiss with the same softness it began. Lexa rested her temple on Clarke’s collarbone, tiredness seeping into her bones. She listened to Clarke’s heartbeat, felt hands on her back. 

_ Safe. _

“Bed?” There was exhaustion in Clarke’s voice. 

Lexa nodded, snuggling under Clarke’s chin. 

* * *

Not finding Lexa in her pack house sent a cold wave of fear that stopped in Clarke’s stomach. Without thinking, she shifted, focusing on Lexa’s scent, following it from her bedroom to the living room, white wolf barging in, nose up in the air.

“I just vacuumed, and you’re shedding all over the place,” Octavia mumbled from the front door, one hand still on the vacuum cleaner. “Seriously Clarke, you just got home from work, and you’re spreading hospital germs all over—”

_ “Where’s Lexa!”  _ The white wolf almost jumped on Octavia, forcing the girl to step back, hands in the air to show submission. 

“Gosh, Clarke, what’s up with you!” Octavia’s surprise morphed into annoyance, and she sidestepped the large wolf. “Don’t even try to deny it, I know all this white fur is yours—”

_ “Octavia!”  _ Clarke let out a howl that ended in a growl, and even Bellamy stuck his head from the kitchen to check what was going on. 

With Anya’s visit from last week and what Lexa had told Clarke, she knew Lexa could be in danger. Trikru could use Lexa as leverage against the Ark Clan, against Clarke. 

“Calm your hackles!” Octavia started to pull the long power cord from all around the living room, not much fazed by Clarke’s obvious concern. “She went out with Raven for the afternoon. You know Raven has that science program for nerds on Wednesdays, and she took Lexa with her.” 

Clarke licked her snout, a sound suspiciously like a whine in her throat. Her ears lowered. 

“A little bit more faith in your own pack, boss?” Octavia joked, eyes still fixed on the power cord that was now threading around the furniture like a thin snake until it stopped in the omega’s hands. “Now get out of here, I just cleaned!”

Clarke licked Octavia’s hand before leaping out the room, a small token of her apology. 

Raven was a full-time researcher for the Ark Clan, which was known as a modern clan, introducing human technology—and adapting it—to werewolves’ reality. Raven led many projects, overviewed Ark Clan’s power plants, and still had time to help the Arkadian younglings. An orphan herself, Raven had a soft spot for pups, which led her to implement an advanced class at the Ark Clan school. 

Even with Octavia’s reassurance, Clarke didn’t waste any time on her run to the education quarter of the Ark Clan’s territory. Since her pack home was on the outskirts of the clan, and away from the downtown and center, she might have been faster with the car, but she acted before thinking. Taking a shortcut, a blur of white disappeared between trees and over fences, focused on her single mission to make sure Lexa was okay.

Lexa and the pups. A small voice inside her whispered a word Clarke was not ready to say yet, or to even talk about it with Lexa, but hoped one day to be true.

_ Mate. _

Clarke was easily recognizable in her wolf form, and she made her best effort to nod to the Arkadians, adults and pups, who greeted her on the way. There was an expected commotion when she made it to the school; the late afternoon meant parents would be around to pick up their kids. She greeted her people with nods, her heart beating faster from the run. Pups approached her, a colorful and fluffy agglomeration around her legs, excited voices flooding her bond. 

And that’s how Clarke found her. Drowning in the tiny paws touching her legs and the tiny barks of excitement around her, Clarke saw Lexa.

At the other side of the fence, in human form, Lexa was not around Raven’s older pups, as Clarke had expected. Sat under a tree that still had most of its yellowing leaves, Lexa spoke to attentive eyes and flickering ears, hair down and shaping the breeze around them. Unaware of the commotion outside the school gate, Lexa continued to read the book in her lap, hands moving in what appeared to be the climax of the story. Curious, the pups’ eyes were locked on Lexa, following every gesture and word, tails wagging and tiny mouths open. Lexa suddenly stood up, book high in the air, and the pups erupted in all types of wolves’ howls and laugher in the typical pup’s high pitch.

It was the most endearing thing Clarke had ever seen. If she wasn’t sure she had fallen for the omega before, she knew now. 

“Ms. Griffin!”

Clarke blinked out of her reverie at the voice from the school director. She nuzzled the pups around her to meet the older woman. 

“I didn’t know we had any scheduled visits,” the woman said while shooing the kids away from Clarke, her glasses a little askew. 

_ “Not a planned visit, no. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”  _ She sent calmly, nodding at the woman.

“You’re always welcome, Ms. Griffin. And so is Ms. Woods.” The woman’s eyes followed where Clarke had been so unabashedly staring before. “She came with Ms. Reyes and ended up helping a sub with our five and six-year-olds.”

They watched as Lexa guided the kids in what was supposed to be a line, but once one of the pups saw Clarke a dozen feet away, all focus was lost with them staring back at the white wolf. It was then that Lexa saw Clarke, one hand on her hip and the other wiping at her brow.

“She’s a fine mate, Ms. Griffin.”

Clarke’s surprised squeak wasn’t lost on the woman, who raised an eyebrow.

Right. People talked. For her clan, Lexa was probably the woman Clarke had chosen as a mate. Since Lexa’s scent was changing due to her pregnancy, it could be thought it was changing because of mating. Lexa’s pregnancy, one way or another, would soon be common knowledge, and then for sure people would think they are mated.

_ “Thank you.” _ Clarke decided not to try and explain, glad her wolf form hid the warming of her cheeks. 

“C’mon children, leave Ms. Griffin and her mate alone,” the director called the lingering kids, letting Clarke trot to the gate to meet Lexa, who had walked with her own entourage of pups following. 

_ “I didn’t find you at home, Octavia said you were going to be here, and—” _

“Clarke,” Lexa laughed a little along with Clarke’s name, one tanned hand threading between white-furred ears. The school director smiled at the scene. 

“It’s okay,” Lexa said, hand still over Clarke’s head. “I’m sorry I left without saying anything.”

_ “It’s fine. You’re in Ark’s territory.”  _

“You thought I had kidnapped your girlfriend, didn’t you?” Raven quipped from behind Lexa, and Clarke startled, not noticing when her friend had approached. 

_ “Wouldn’t be the first time.”  _ When Lexa’s hand dropped from the warm spot between Clarke’s ears, the white wolf nibbled at it. Smiling, Lexa resumed the slight scratch. 

“You guys make me barf,” Raven complained, grimacing at Clarke. “Did you run here?” Her sculpted eyebrows hit her hairline. Clarke didn’t bother to answer but followed Raven and Lexa to the parking lot.

Lexa’s lack of reaction to Raven’s crudeness showed the omega was indeed used to Raven’s antics. It made a warm feeling grow in Clarke’s chest; Lexa being part of her normal, being friends with her pack. 

_ “Did you have fun?”  _ Clarke hopped into the backseat of Raven’s beat-up SUV—her baby. 

“It was good to be out of the house for a bit. I’m feeling better,” Lexa completed before Clarke could protest on her need to rest. 

_ “I saw you with the pups under the tree.” _

“It was the first time in a while that I felt like myself.” 

Clarke snuggled closer to Lexa in the backseat, her front paws on her lap.

“Try not to shed all over my car,” Raven warned from the front seat. 

_ “Did you actually clean this junk?”  _ Clarke teased, noticing the lack of fur and coffee cups in Raven’s car. 

“Yeah, it needed some refreshing,” Raven mumbled, eyes on the road. Lexa’s hand on Clarke’s fur tightened briefly before Clarke could reply, and at Lexa’s quick shake of her head, Clarke understood.

Anya. 

Raven’s car was probably doused in Anya’s scent and fur, pieces of a relationship that no longer existed. 

The silent journey home was a reminder that things were still far from being okay.

* * *

It had been a long day. Bellamy and Raven were tasked with cleaning the fireplace for the upcoming cold weather, which ended with both wolves completely covered in soot, Bellamy almost getting stuck and Octavia yelling at both of them for making a mess in the living room. And maybe a few broken roof tiles. 

But, at the end of the day, the fireplace was lit, crackling away the first fire of the season. 

In a corner, after a much-needed shower, Raven read a book with Octavia napping at her feet. Bellamy had security rounds that night and couldn’t stay. Holding a steaming cup of coffee, Abby traded her office for the table in the living room, going over charts and documents with the aid of the warming fire.

In front of the hearth, watching the flames with fixed green eyes, Lexa laid with her head close to the fire, basking in its warmth. Twirling gold peppered her fur, the solid black reflecting the dancing flames. In her focused gaze, the flames painted a flashing picture, agitated and vivid; but Lexa’s glare wasn’t as bright, fixed on the flames, thin slits under dark eyelids.

Slowly, Clarke made her way next to the prone wolf, laying close to the fire and taking a deep breath of its warmth. The white wolf plotted down with a tired huff, her belly up and head turned to Lexa’s direction.

_ “Raven and Bell did a great job,”  _ Clarke said conversationally, tail swishing side to side.  _ “I love the fireplace on cold nights like today.” _ She wiggled her back against the floor, a satisfied purr echoing in her throat. 

_ “It’s nice.” _ Lexa didn’t move her eyes from the fire, her tail tucked firmly next to her body. A large, white paw touched her side gently, the lightest of pokes.  _ “What?” _

_ “You okay?” _ Clarke asked, upside down, belly up to the warmth of the flames, and legs spread in the way she did when waking up.

Lexa couldn’t hold a reaction, wolfish features contorting in a semblance of a smile.

“Clarke. Legs,” Raven, without looking up from her book, said loud enough from her place on the couch. Octavia, eyes closed, snorted. “No one wants to see your junk.”

Even Abby had a silent smile, and Clarke used her tail to cover herself. 

_ “You’re jealous, Raven.” _ Clarke sent back but also turned on her side to face Lexa and make sure her legs were closed. 

“Of that little thing?” The engineer finally put her book down, brown eyes finding Clarke. “If Lexa wasn’t pregnant, I’d even question if it works.”

“Raven,” Abby warned from her place at the table, never moving her eyes from her reports.

“Sorry, Abby.” Raven had the decency to blush. “But I meant it, Clarkey. Legs closed.” 

Lexa’s tail swished to rest on top of Clarke’s side, a dark belt on her immaculate fur.  _ “She’s not wrong.” _

_ “About my size?”  _ Clarke scoffed, air leaving her snout in a strong, undignified exhale. 

Lexa’s tail slapped down on Clarke’s ribs.  _ “About you not closing your legs.” _

_ “I think I’ve done it since I was a pup.” _

_ “I hope bad habits are not genetic.” _

_ “And I hope good ones are,”  _ Clarke teased back, shuffling closer to Lexa. Lexa remained impassive watching the fire, her tail the only part of her body still moving.  _ “You okay, Lexa?” _

Lexa finally turned her head, catching the sparkle on Clarke’s blue eyes that appeared darker under the flickering fire. They simply stared for a moment, enjoying the comfortable silence. Clarke licked her snout, ears forward, waiting, white tail wriggling on the floor. 

Lexa leaned down and touched her snout to Clarke’s, closing her eyes.  _ “I’m worried about Anya. What could be happening at Trikru.” _

_ “Do you think your family could be in danger?” _

_ “I don’t know.” _ Lexa opened her eyes, refocusing on the fire. 

_ “If they are, we can help.” _

_ “How?”  _ Lexa’s voice was harsher.  _ “We can’t interfere without jeopardizing your clan.” _

Clarke wanted to say that it could be Lexa’s clan too but held her tongue. 

_ “We’ll offer help whenever we can,”  _ Clarke stated, leaning in to snuggle against Lexa’s neck, her cold snout warming against the thick fur.  _ “I know it’s important to you.” _

With a deep breath, Lexa found a comfortable position, resting her chin on Clarke’s head.  _ “I wonder if there’s not more I could do.” _

_ “Don’t even think about going there,” _ Clarke wiggled her body, getting closer to the omega.  _ “Please tell me you’re not thinking of going.” _

_ “I feel awful not doing anything. And to think it’s all because of me—” _

_ “We made that decision together.”  _ Clarke inverted their positions so Lexa’s head would be tucked under Clarke’s neck.  _ “And Indra made the decision to banish you.”  _ Clarke’s tone was tinged with anger, and Lexa licked the underside of her jaw. 

_ “She did what she had to do.” _

_ “Would you do that if you were heda?” _

Lexa shivered, and Clake’s tail intertwined with her own, their bodies a yin and yang in front of the fireplace.

_ “No,”  _ Lexa said calmly. 

_ “They made a mistake casting you out. You were going to be a great leader.” _

_ “What is done is done.” _

_ “We’ll help where we can, Lexa. I promise you.”  _ Clarke touched her nose with Lexa’s. 

All air left Clarke’s lungs as Octavia, in all her grey and golden glory, flopped ungracefully on top of the alpha. Lexa huffed, rolling to the side as the young omega and alpha struggled for a second.

_ “Octavia!” _

_ “You looked too cuddly, I needed to interfere,”  _ the omega replied while nipping at Clarke’s ear. 

Recharged from her nap, Octavia turned to Lexa, leaning her head down in a show of submission, but green eyes looked up at her.  _ “Can I touch it?” _

Lexa smiled, sharing a quick nod with Clarke before leaning on her side. Octavia sniffed around her belly, rolling on the floor. 

_ “Oh wow, I can scent them! I can scent them!”  _

Clarke’s chest filled with pride, her nose touching Lexa’s again. 

Then, it was Octavia’s turn to be crushed by another wolf.

_ “What?”  _ Raven asked innocently, her dark brown fur mingling with Octavia’s.  _ “Looked cozy and—ooof!” _

Clarke couldn’t resist joining the messy pile, nipping at Raven’s paw, who yelped. The three of them struggled lightly, changing positions as to who was on top of the pile at least five times, playful growls filling the room. 

“Tea?” Abby asked Lexa, who took a few steps away from the wrestling trio. 

Lexa stood, nodded, and followed Abby to the kitchen. 

In the living room, the pile of wolves dissolved into a mix of growls and laughter, their voices loud enough for Lexa to pick.

_ “No biting, O!” _

_ “Take that snot away from there!” _

_ “Legs, Clarke! Close your legs!” _

* * *

Bellamy stared at Clarke, his dark eyes calm and serious.

_ “I want you and Octavia to be ready if I howl. But don’t interfere otherwise,”  _ Clarke gave the orders with the familiarity of a leader, jumping down the steps of the house deck.  _ “I’m not sure if Anya is allowed to meet with us, so no one can know about this meeting.” _

The Blake siblings nodded, Octavia restless beside her brother. Lexa had insisted they wouldn’t need security to meet Anya in the woods, but Clarke insisted someone be around after she lost the argument that the siblings should be armed. 

_ “We don’t want to be late,”  _ Lexa sent from her way to the tree line, black fur shining under the setting sun. 

With a last nod to Bellamy and Octavia, Clarke followed Lexa between the densing trees.

_ “How do you know where we’ll meet them?”  _ Clarke asked after long minutes of silent trotting. 

_ “We’ll know when they’re close.” _ Lexa looked behind her, watching the sun going down. In the dark forest, she was an invisible wolf if she so wanted to. 

Clarke, on the other hand.

_ “Careful,” _ Lexa pointed as Clarke stepped on dry twigs, the sound echoing in the quiet forest.  _ “They won’t have any trouble finding…”  _ She trailed off and sniffed the air, hair on her back standing on end. 

_ “Lexa?” _

Lexa’s eyes focused on Clarke, widening. Without another word, the black wolf disappeared into the forest, a blur of shadows weaving between trees. 

_ “Lexa!”  _ Panting, Clarke bolted after her, guided by scent and the fair spiking of Lexa’s heart. She saw the omega stop, nose up in the air, licking her chops and tail wagging.

_ “Lexa, what—” _

And right in front of Clarke, next to a fallen log that sprung a cluster of red mushrooms and covered by the winter sky, a dark brown wolf emerged from the trees and attacked Lexa, biting on her neck, silent and effective. The dark wolves fell to the ground in a tangled pile of growls and barks. 

_ “Lexa!”  _ Clarke, ready to jump between Lexa and her shadow attacker, was stopped by a warm puff of air next to her sensitive ear. 

_ “Don’t, blondie. They’re fine.”  _

Clarke swallowed her surprise at Anya’s voice. Her ears pinned back, and she stared at the struggling wolves in front of them. On second thought, she could see Lexa wasn’t fighting with the other wolf, they were actually… playing. Like pups, rolling and nipping at each other, with playful growls and scratches. 

On Clarke’s other side, Lincoln laughed quietly, his grey fur dull under the darkening trees. 

As if finally noticing their audience, both Lexa and the brown wolf stopped the shenanigans. Clarke couldn’t hold her own smile at Lexa’s relaxed scent. 

_ “You look like shit!” _ The brown wolf sent to Lexa but not through a private bond. 

_ “I missed you too, Costia.”  _ Breathless, Lexa nipped at the shorter wolf’s paw, gaining a yip. 

_ “Still better than the last time I saw you.” _ The brown wolf, an omega Clarke noticed, shared a sincere hug with Lexa, their neck intertwining. 

_ “Clarke, this is Costia. An old friend of mine.” _

Anya snickered, and Clarke tried hard not to frown. 

_ “She’s part of our group in Trikru that fights for change.” _

_ “The rebels,”  _ Costia interfered, nodding at Clarke with deep brown eyes.  _ “Plan was going real smooth until you knotted our leader.” _

_ “Costia.”  _ The reprimand came from Lincoln, who stepped closer to the brown omega. 

_ “Sorry, I just needed to get it out of my chest.”  _

_ “What is done is done.” _ Anya stopped the omega before she could continue.  _ “We’re not here to point fingers.” _

_ “Why are you here, then? News?”  _ Lexa asked, and Clarke took the opportunity to step closer to her. Costia’s scent had spread to Lexa’s fur, but subtly. Clarke swallowed what could be the beginning of jealousy when she realized Costia was mated. 

It came back up when she remembered that might not mean much in Trikru.

_ “As surprising as it sounds, things have been calm,”  _ Costia said, eyes on both Lexa and Clarke.  _ “Anya’s transition to power has not brought claims from the upper council, and the ceremony is scheduled for the next full moon.” _

_ “What about Indra?” _

Anya avoided Lexa’s gaze, and Costia lowered her head and tail. 

_ “After what happened, there’s pressure from the elders for her to step down,”  _ Lincoln was the one who spoke.  _ “She was not deemed a good leader after…”  _ He hissed, looking for words.

_ “After her pupil so brazenly disrespected core traditions. I get it.” _ Lexa huffed. Clarke nosed her side, feeling Lexa’s chest expand. 

_ “But this could be good,”  _ Costia continued.  _ “With Anya in power, she can pardon you once the dust settles. You won’t be heda, but you’ll be back. It’s not what we planned, but you still have influence in Trikru, Lexa. You know you do.” _

_ “Are you sure the upper council is on board with Anya assuming?” _ Lexa’s voice was clipped, not relieved as Clarke expected after hearing such good news. 

_ “Nia proposed it herself,”  _ Anya responded, golden fur accents clear as she walked in front of Lexa. 

_ “And you didn’t think that’s suspicious?” _ Lexa’s ears flattened on her head, fangs showing.  _ “Nia has never agreed to anything we proposed.” _

_ “She probably thinks I’ll be easier to control than Indra. The vote was unanimous.” _

Lexa relaxed, sharing a glance with Clarke and then focusing on Costia.  _ “News from other clans?” _

_ “Ambassadors will be present for Anya’s ascension. We expect clear support from the Ark Clan.”  _ The short omega glanced at Clarke, who felt her ears warming.

Anya spoke up,  _ “This is good, Lexa. Your pups will be Trikru.” _

It took some control, but Clarke did not growl at the future heda of Trikru and her followers. She was right, though. Lexa being accepted in Trikru was the best-case scenario.

_ “We need to go,”  _ Lincoln said as he looked up to the sky.  _ “People will notice.” _

_ “Meet us again in three weeks.”  _ Costia nuzzled Lexa’s nose with her own.  _ “It was a blessing seeing you safe.” _

_ “Clarke.”  _ Clarke watched Lincoln and Costia pace further away, but Anya remained.  _ “Raven…”  _

Clarke knew that look; any alpha could see regret and shame in a fellow wolf.  _ “Heartbroken,”  _ Clarke replied in honesty.  _ “Can I tell her about this? She deserves to know why you left her.” _

_ “She knows most of it.”  _ Clarke widened her eyes at Anya’s confession.  _ “I wanted to know if she was okay.” _

_ “She’s safe,”  _ Lexa offered, cutting through the alphas’ stare.  _ “I’m sorry, Anya. I know she understands.” _

_ “No, she doesn’t,”  _ Clarke protested.  _ “But she accepts it.” _

Anya’s golden eyes blinked with what Clarke could swear were tears. It was gone as Anya shook her head, the tip of her fangs showing as she stood taller. 

_ “Costia is right, Clarke. During my ascension, the Ark Clan ambassador will need to be overly supportive. We cannot break our alliance now.” _

_ “Of course.” _

With a last nod, the Trikru alpha walked back into the darkness. 

_ “Are you okay?”  _ Clarke asked Lexa when they were once more alone.

_ “I hope they’re right.” _

_ “They wouldn't lie to us… would they?”  _ Clarke led the walk back to her pack home. 

_ “No. But I don’t know if someone else isn’t lying to them.” _

Throughout the evening Lexa was restless. She barely touched dinner and retired early to the bedroom she shared with Clarke. Clarke found her in bed, notebook in hands and scribbling furiously with a pink pen.

“I wonder if there’s anything they could have told us to make you relax,” Clarke said as she sat close to Lexa’s foot on the bed. “Anya had great news, and you’re still worried.” She rested one hand on Lexa’s calf, slowly. Lexa glanced at her hand but didn’t shake it off, and Clarke squeezed the flesh lightly. 

“I’m not worried about what they told us.” Lexa closed the notebook with a long sigh. She twirled the pink pen in her hands, the golden ‘Dr. Griffin’ shining under the bedroom’s light. “I’m worried about what they didn’t tell us.”

Clarke squeezed Lexa’s leg a little firmer. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t remember the last time any voting passed unanimously in Trikru.” Lexa’s eyes roamed over the room, not settling on anything and betraying her racing mind. “One of the reasons I want change is to bring a common ground for unity. And a unanimous vote on something as important as heda’s ascension?” 

Clarke’s other hand landed on Lexa’s leg. “I’m sure Anya is being careful.”

“You don’t know her,” Lexa said defeatedly. “Anya can be stubborn, and she’ll act without thinking if she thinks she’s in the right direction.” She swallowed, her curls spilling over the headboard as she rested the back of her head. “I’m afraid she’s missing something.”

“What about Lincoln? Or Costia?” 

“Lincoln is always busy with the guard and misses many meetings, and Costia…”

Clarke watched Lexa in curiosity as plump lips molded around the foreign name. “Costia doesn’t have it easy. Her mate can be… difficult.” 

Clarke nodded, wondering the headaches of arranged marriage. “You two seemed close,” she said quietly, hands making a pattern on the exposed skin Lexa’s sweatpants revealed. 

Lexa chuckled. “I can’t believe you’re jealous.” Amused green eyes met Clarke’s. “I’m here, carrying two of your pups, and you’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.” Clarke felt her blush expanding all the way to her neck. But seeing Lexa smiling, even if at her own expanse, was worth it. “But did you guys used to have a thing?” Clarke tilted her head to feign disinterest. 

Lexa did not buy it. “Why does it matter now?”

“It doesn’t.” Clarke shrugged, her hand going up Lexa’s leg. With the lack of protest, the alpha’s touch continued to climb. “Not really, honestly.”

“Honestly?” Lexa turned her torso to place the notebook and pen down but didn’t flinch away from Clarke’s touch. “You’re saying you’re not an overprotective alpha right now?”

“Not in the slightest.” Clarke placed one socked foot on the bed followed by the other, turning to approach Lexa on her knees. 

“So you’re not really trying to get your scent all over me right now?” Lexa’s brow rose along with the side of her lips. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Clarke settled on Lexa’s side, her chin over the omega’s shoulder and one hand on her waist. 

Lexa laughed quietly but accepted Clarke’s clear claim. Clarke nuzzled her way under Lexa’s chin, inhaling her changing scent. Lexa turned her head, nose nudging Clarke’s golden locks, one arm keeping the woman close. Lexa took a deep breath, her fingers caressing Clarke’s shoulder. Clarke moved so she could touch Lexa’s coreved belly, even if the omega wasn’t showing yet. 

Lexa melted into the touch, her high cheekbone nestling on Clarke’s hair. Clarke pushed on the mattress with the hand not over Lexa so her own face would touch Lexa’s warming skin. Lexa followed the movement, the one buried under Clarke’s jaw now being involved in the warmth, the tenderness of the touch. 

“Lexa?” Clarke breathed the question against Lexa’s ear, not hiding the unveiled want that scratched at the back of her throat as a low growl. 

Lexa didn’t respond, instead continued the trance that was touching Clarke, mixing their scents tenderly. Clarke’s arms found their way around Lexa, involving her in a seamless hug, their sweatpants intertwining when Lexa allowed a knee to venture between her legs.

“Lexa?” Clarke tried again, but her voice was breathier, insistent, chasing the growing pressure but unsure if she should tame it or let it grow.

“Clarke.” Lexa placed a close-mouthed kiss to the side of Clarke’s neck. “Is this because of Costia?” 

Frowning, Clarke placed a hand under Lexa’s chin, meeting her hooded eyes. “No.” 

Lexa opened her mouth against Clarke’s skin, but Clarke simply tightened her hold, cradling Lexa’s head. “And it’s not because of the pups, either. It’s because of you.”

“I’m sorry if I haven’t—”

“Lexa,” Clarke stated firmly, taking a deep breath of Lexa. “It’s alright.” Clarke tucked a lock of hair behind Lexa’s ear, kissing her temple. For long minutes, they lay in bed, sharing small caresses and touches. Slowly, Lexa turned to press another kiss to Clarke’s jaw, her mouth molding a smile as Clarke’s breath hitched at the first hint of tongue. Lexa straddled her alpha, a leg draping over Clarke’s waist. One hand found Clarke’s next to the alpha’s head and the other traced her jaw. Lexa’s eyelashes fluttered as she eyed her own hand and traced it up until she met blue.

“I wish we had more time,” Lexa whispered, closing her eyes and kissing Clarke’s cheek. 

Eyebrows coming together, Clarke placed one hand on Lexa’s hips. “Time?”

“For us. Before everything went so… sideways.”

Clarke raised their interlaced fingers, bringing it closer for a chaste kiss. “We can make our own time. Little moments like this.” 

Lexa leaned down for their lips to meet, soft and careful. Their foreheads touched, a waterfall of wild, dark locks framing Clarke’s head. “This is not an agenda for me.”

“I know.”

* * *

They had their reasons. Two, two very important and valid reasons, but that didn’t help with the anger boiling in Clarke’s stomach.

“He has a point, Clarke,” Marcus soothed the blow Abby had just landed. “You should lay low from Trikru business for a while.”

“Anya is my friend.” The word felt weird in Clarke’s mouth, but it wasn’t entirely false. At least, she had respect for the alpha. 

“Pike will be the Ark ambassador in Trikru’s heda ascension ceremony, and this is final. I will accompany him as a token of good faith, but you, Clarke, will not be part of that diplomatic visit,” Abby reinstated, dark eyes glinting with warning.

Nodding, Clarke sat down in her chair, sharing one last glare with Pike as the tall alpha smirked from the other side of the room. 

The council meeting being held in the center of Ark territory was called due to the news of Anya’s ascension. But besides Clarke’s protests, she was not chosen to be the Ark Clan representative.

Pike was quick to offer his services.

Something didn’t sit right with Clarke, but Marcus, her mother and the other members were unanimous in agreeing Clarke should not go to Trikru. She couldn’t blame them; they were right to worry.

But still, the way Pike smirked at her on his way out of the room sent chills down her spine. She remembered what Jackson had said about Pike being overinvested in finding information on Lexa, and it all made her stomach turn in growing suspicion.

In the end, Pike was still a valuable and trusted member of the Ark Clan Council. He would travel to Trikru in the following weeks to be a part of the sacred ceremony that would install the new heda. 

Her mother’s reassurances didn’t help with Clarke’s unsettling suspicion, even after the older alpha explained Clarke’s behaviour was a result of her overprotectiveness of Lexa. Yet, Lexa could be right. It wasn’t that people were lying to them; the problem was that there could be more players to this game than they could see.

* * *

Bellamy’s howl cut through the night, the distress in his tone waking up his pack.

“Stay in the room.” Clarke didn’t wait for Lexa to reply before she jumped off the bed and ran down the stairs. 

Raven helped a bloodied Bellamy in through the back door, a large, grey wolf thrown over Bellamy’s shoulders. In human form, he let the wolf fall to the floor, and Clarke realized the blood wasn’t Bellamy’s. 

“Found him on patrol. He was already losing consciousness,” Bellamy said, sweat pouring over his brows.

“Why did you bring him here?” Raven asked as Clarke kneeled next to the wolf on instinct, checking his vitals. 

“I don’t know! He didn’t seem like a threat and, and…”

“That doesn’t matter right now,” Clarke intervened. “We need to take him to the hospital.”

“What’s the meaning of this?” From the kitchen entrance, Abby appeared in a light purple robe, long hair pulled in an unbalanced ponytail. 

“Bellamy found an injured wolf on patrol,” Raven offered tiredly, her brows knitting. “I think I know him.”

“Lincoln,” Lexa called from behind Abby, rushing to the injured wolf. “What happened to him?”

“Clarke, why do you keep bringing half-dead Trikru wolves into my home?” Abby took a breath, hand on her forehead. “Let’s get an ambulance here so—”

“No,” Clarke cut her mother off, meeting her sharp brown eyes. “Something is wrong. Anya’s ascension is in a few days, and a member of the ruling pack shows up bloodied on our doorstep? We need to keep this quiet.”

“It’s alright.” Lexa squirmed her way between Bellamy and Clarke to touch Lincoln’s face. When her fingers scratched at the back of his ears, he twitched and opened one eye.

_ “Lex?” _ He coughed, and the background noise of Raven talking to Abby slowed down. 

“Lincoln, what happened?” Lexa asked, both hands around his snout, sighing in relief when he licked the tip of her fingers. Lincoln’s brown eyes caught Clarke next to Lexa, and he whined softly. 

_ “We were wrong. I’m so sorry.” _ He licked Lexa’s hand again, and by then the room was silent, every wolf paying attention to his words. 

“What happened?” Lexa’s voice broke, her eyes shimmering. Clarke placed a hand on her shoulder, feeling the tight muscles. 

_ “I couldn’t find Anya. I don’t know if she made it out.” _

Lexa gasped, and Clarke braced herself for the bad news.

“Indra?” Abby asked from behind Clarke, tone low under the weight of the moment. Lincoln whined, nuzzling against Lexa’s hand.

_ “Dead.” _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can.  
> I can explain.  
> Maybe.  
> *runs away after a kindly thoughtful cliffhanger*


End file.
